HYMENOPTERA. 165 
They form two subgenera: 
Apts, Lat. 
Or that of Bees properly so called, where the first joint of the 
posterior tarsi of the labourers forms along square, and is fur- 
nished on the inner side with a silken down divided into transverse 
or striated bands. 
Apis mellifica, L.; Reaum., Insect., V, xxi—xxxviii. Black- 
ish; scutellum and abdomen of the same colour; a transverse 
greyish band, formed of down, at the base of the third and fol- 
lowing abitoninal annuli. 
Bees proper are much smaller and more oblong than the 
Bombi. Their body is merely furnished with down in particu- 
lar places, and its colours vary but little. Their communities 
consist of labourers or neuters, usually from fifteen to twenty 
thousand in number, and sometimes extending to thirty thou- 
sand; of from six to eight hundred males, and in some hives 
of a thousand and more, called bourdons by the French Api- 
arists(1), and faux-bourdons by Reaumur; and commonly of a 
single female, considered by the ancients as the king or head of 
the community, and styled a queen by us. 
The labourers, smaller than the others, have their antennz 
composed of twelve joints, and the abdomen of six annuli; the 
first joint of the posterior tarsi, or the square piece (piece carrée), 
is dilated in the form of a pointed palette, at the exterior angle 
of their base, and densely covered on its inner side with short 
fine, silky down; they are armed with a sting. The female pre- 
sents the same characters, but the abdomen of the labourers is 
shorter. Their mandibles are spoon-shaped, and not dentated. 
In the outer side of their posterior tibiz is that smooth depress- 
ion edged with hairs called the corbeille or baskets the silky 
brush of the first joint of the tarsi of the same legs has seven or 
eight transverse striz. 
The males and females are the-largest; their mandibles are 
hairy and emarginated under the point; the proboscis is shorter, 
partigularly in the males. These latter differ from the former 
and from the labourers in their antennz, which consist of thirteen 
joints; in their more rounded head and larger eyes, elongated 
and united above; in their smaller and more hairy mandibles, in. 
the absence of a sting, in the four short anterior legs, of which 
(1) Orour Drone. Am. Ed. 
