163 BRITISH BEES. 



» aad where they are fringed with brief bristles. The 

 peculiar form of the tongue in this section suggests its 

 being separated into two subsections, that organ being in 

 the first subsection very broad and bilobated, which gives 

 those insects their position in the series by approximating 

 them to the preceding family of the Diploptera, or 

 ■wasps, whose tongues have the same bilobate form, but 

 each lobe in them is furnished with a gland. These 

 tongues, in both cases of the wasps and these bees, may 

 conduce to the building or plastering habits of the in- 

 sects. The form may aid the wasp and the Colletes, 

 the first in the moulding of its hexagonal papier-mdcM 

 cells, as it may the second in shaping and embroidering 

 the silk-lined abode of its embryonic progeny. Why 

 Prosopis should have this organization is difficult to 

 conceive, unless it be from an analogy of structure inci- 

 dentally previously referred to, beyond which any special 

 object has hitherto escaped detection. 



In the second section of the Andrenidae, which have 

 the paraglossse entire and terminating in a point, the 

 tongues all also terminate acutely with a lateral incli- 

 nation inwards. In the lanceolate-tongued tribe they 

 bulge outwards laterally, although pointed at the apex. 



All this subfamily of Andrenidte, excepting only the 

 two genera reputed parasites, viz. Prosopis and Sphe- 

 codes, are essentially Scopulipedes, densely brush-legged, 

 for the conveyance of pollen which they vigorously 

 collect ; but from the brevity of their tongues they are 

 restricted to flowers with shallow petals and apparent 

 nectaria, their favourite plants being the abounding 

 Composite aad Umbelliferm, as well as the Rosacea, 

 whence they derive the agreeable odours which many of 

 them emit upon being captured. 



