196 
BRITISH BEES. 
Subsection h. Lingtle lanceolate (with lancet-shaped tongues). 
Genus 3. SPHECODES, Latreille . 
(Hate I. fig. 3 $ ? .) 
Melitta ## a , Kirby. 
Gen. Char. : Head transverse, linear, fully as wide as 
the thorax, flat, with a slightly convex tendency; ocelli 
in a triangle ; antennae short, scarcely geniculated ; face 
beneath the insertion of the antennse, protuberant; 
clypeus transverse, margined, convex; labrum trans¬ 
versely ovate, deeply emarginate, in the centre in front; 
mandibles bidentate, obtuse, the external tooth project¬ 
ing much further than the second ; tongue short, lan¬ 
ceolate, fringed with setae; paraglossce not so long as 
the tongue, abruptly terminated, and setose at the ex¬ 
tremity ; labial palpi not so long as the paraglossse; 
the joints comparatively elongate and slender, and 
decreasing towards the apex in length and substance ; 
labium rather longer than the tongue, its inosculation 
straightly transverse; maxillae about the length of the 
tongue, broad and lanceolate; maxillary palpi six- 
jointed, the first joint shorter and less robust than the 
second, which is also shorter and less robust than the 
third, which is the longest and most robust of all, the 
terminal joints more slender, and declining gradually in 
length. Thorax ovate ; prothorax linear, produced into 
a sharp tooth on each side; mesoihorax with longitudi¬ 
nal lateral impressed lines; bosses acutely protuberant; 
scutellum quadrate ; postscuteUum inconspicuous; meta¬ 
thorax slightly gibbous; wings with three submarginal 
cells, and a fourth slightly commenced, the second 
narrow, forming a truncated triangle, and receiving the 
