342 BRITISH BEES. 



necessarily becomes the first transmuted^ and thus has 

 not to wait for the egress of all above it. 



All these insects are usually accompanied by their 

 partners in their flight, and their amorous intercourse 

 takes place upon the wing. 



Genus 12. Saeopoda, Laireille. 



(Plate VII. fig. 2 (? ? .) 



Apis ** d, 2, a, Kirby. 



Gen. Char. : Head transverse, as wide as the thorax, 

 very pubescent ; ocelli placed in a triangle, the anterior 

 one low towards the face ; vertex slightly concave ; an- 

 tenna short, filiform, basal joint of flagellum globose, 

 the second joint subclavate and the longest, the rest 

 short and equal ; face flattish, short : clypeus forming 

 an obtuse triangle, slightly convex; labrum quadrate, 

 with the angles rounded ; mandibles obtusely bidentate ; 

 cibarial apparatus long ; tongue very long and slender, 

 but gradually expanding towards half its length and then 

 as gradually tapering to the extremity and terminating 

 in a small knob, its sides throughout being fimbriated 

 with short delicate down ; paraglossm one-third its 

 length, membranous, very delicate, and tapering to a 

 point; labial palpi slender, membranous, the joints con- 

 terminous, the basal joint more than half the length of 

 the tongue, the remainder short, the second the longest 

 of these three, and all tapering to the pointed apical 

 one ; labium scarcely one-third as long as the tongue, 

 rather broad, bifid at its inosculation; maaeilla nearly as 

 long as the tongue, gradually diminishing from its basal 

 sinus to a point at its extremity ; maxillary palpi four- 



