262 BRITISH BEES. 



h. With two submarginal cells. 



Genus 17. Stelis, Panzer. 

 (Plate XI. fig. 3 (J ? .) 

 Apis ** c, 1 /3, Kirby. 

 Gen. Char. : Body glabrous^ much punctured. Head 

 transverse, curving posteriorly to the thorax, where it is 

 angulated laterally ; ocelli in a triangle at the summit 

 of the vertex ; antenna short, slender, filiform, scarcely 

 geniculated, the scape about as long as the three first 

 joints of the flagellum, all the joints of which are sub- 

 equal but slightly increasing in length towards the apical 

 one, which is a little compressed laterally ; face entirely 

 flat; c/y^ews transverse, rather convex ; labrum elongate, 

 convex ; mandibles robust, tridentate, the external tooth 

 considerably the stoutest ; cibarial apparatus long, tongue 

 three times as long as the labium, slightly inflated in the 

 centre, and terminating in a small knob; paragloss<s 

 very short, not more than one-sixth the length of the 

 tongue and acuminate ; labial palpi about two-thirds 

 the length of the tongue, the two first joints membra- 

 nous, the basal one the most robust, and both tapering 

 to an acute apex, shortly before which the two very short 

 subclavate terminal joints articulate; labium about one- 

 third the length of the tongue, its inosculation trifid, 

 the central division considerably the longest and trun- 

 cated at its extremity ; maxillce subhastate, nearly as long 

 as the tongue, acutely acuminated towards their apex ; 

 maxillary palpi very short, two-jointed, the basal joint 

 subclavate and slightly the longest, and inserted in a 

 circular cavity, the terminal joint short ovate. Thorax 

 subglobose; prothorax inconspicuous; mesothorax very 

 convex ; scutellum lunulate, very gibbous, and impending 



