Veipa. HYMENOPTERA. 195 



ferve inftead of one -, it has the appearance of a 

 little bag with the mouth downwards, but does 

 not clofe on the under fide j towards the end it 

 is jagged, and divided into lobes, exactly 

 like the petals of fome flowers. If Geoffroy 

 took this membrane (which is always very fhort) 

 for a tongue refembling that of the Bee, he was 

 certainly miflaken, or had not examined it with 

 fufEcient attention. 



Linnaeus' s character perhaps ought not to be 

 taken for generical, fince he himfelf defcribes 

 one exotic fpecies, and feveral others are found 

 in the cabinets of the curious, which are pro- 

 vided with tongues ; thefe, indeed, differ very 

 much from the tongue of the Bee, being (in 

 fuch fpecies as I have met with, and particularly 

 in two or three which 1 poffefs myfelf) fhort, 

 ftiff, extended, and concealed under the upper 

 lip, which for that purpofe is drawn or length- 

 ened out into a horny, pointed probofcis •, the bo- 

 dies of fome of thefe infecls are hairy, like Bees, 

 others are fmooth, or without hairs. It is to be 

 hoped that fome ingenious traveller will take 

 upon himfelf the tafk of examining whether 

 or no thefe laft- mentioned infects differ ge- 

 nerically from the Wafp and the Bee, or 

 to which of them the different fpecies be- 

 long, which can only be done by thofe who (hall 



N 2 have 



