MELECTA. 
255 
species by the aid of blades of grass or sligdit straws 
thrust into the aperture, but the crumbling nature of 
the soil frustrated my wishes, and I abandoned the at¬ 
tempt. This field of observation is widely open to the 
exertions of observing naturalists, and the novelty of 
their discoveries would well reward the toil of the un¬ 
dertaking, for it would not be long before they gathered 
fruit. 
Genus 15. MELECTA, latreille . 
(Plate XI. fig. 1 $ .) 
Apis ## a, Kirby. 
* Gen. Char. : Head transverse, scarcely so wide as the 
thorax; ocelli in a triangle on the vertex ; antennae fili¬ 
form, rather robust, and but slightly geniculated, the 
scape not longer than the two following joints, the se¬ 
cond joint of the flagellum the longest and clavate, the 
rest short, nearly equal, and the terminal one laterally 
compressed at its extremity; face flat, very pubescent; 
clypeus short transverse, lunulate, convex; labrum irre¬ 
gularly gibbous, obovate ; mandibles strongly bidentate ; 
tongue long, slightly expanding towards the middle and 
thence tapering to the extremity, and with a central 
line; paraglossce scarcely half the length of the tongue, 
almost setiform, but robust at the base; labial palpi 
more than half the length of the tongue, the two first 
joints membranous and very slender, the first longer 
than the rest united, the second about half the length 
of the first, and terminating acutely, the third not more 
than one-fourth the length of the second, and inserted 
laterally before its termination, the fourth about as long 
