246 BRITISH BEES. 



■with a lozenge-shaped inosculation ; maxilla as long as 

 the tongue, broad at the base, whence it abruptly acu- 

 minates to the slender apex j maxillary palpi six-jointed, 

 filiform, the three first joints subequal, the three ter- 

 minal gradually decreasing in length. Thorax oval, 

 glabrous ; prothorax inconspicuous ; mesothorax with a 

 central basal groove, the bosses conspicuous and shin- 

 ing; scutellum and post-scutellum lunulate; metathorax 

 subtruncate ; wings with three submarginal cells and a 

 fourth slightly commenced, the second in the form of a 

 truncated triangle, the third considerably larger than 

 the second, and each receiving a recurrent nervure just 

 beyond the centre ; legs plumose but not densely so, the 

 hair very long within the posterior tibiae, but denser 

 and shorter on its exterior; the posterior plantcB also 

 plumose, and all the joints of the posterior tarsi conter- 

 minous; claws bifid. Abdomen glabrous, subclavate, 

 very convex above and flat beneath, subtruncate at the 

 base, and the basal segments slightly constricted. 



The MALE scarcely differs, excepting in the clypeus 

 being less gibbous, the legs not plumose, and the sixth 

 segment of the abdomen carinated in the centre towards 

 its extremity, and impending over the seventh, which 

 is transversely gibbous, then depressed, and with an ob- 

 tuse process at its extremity. 



NATIVE SPECIES. 



1. ccerulea, Villers, ■ c? ? . 2-3 lines. (Plate VII. 



fig. 3 <? ? .) 

 cyanea, Kirby. 



2. albilabris, Fabricius, cj ? . 2\ lines. 



GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 



This genus is named from the presence of a little 



