320 
BRITISH BEES. 
minating conically, the first segment very short, the se¬ 
cond the longest, the ventral segments ridged longitu¬ 
dinally in the centre. 
The female, or queen differs in the head not being 
quite so wide as the thorax, in having the cibarial appa¬ 
ratus very much shorter; the mandibles distinctly bi- 
dentate, the inner edge of the inner tooth stretching 
obliquely to the acute inner extremity of the broad apex 
of the organ; the labial palpi as long as the tongue, 
with all the joints conterminous, the basal one slightly 
acuminate, the second linear, the two terminal ones 
more slender and shorter, the pubescence of the eyes 
very much longer than in the neuter; the legs more 
robust and less pilose; the posterior tibiae convex exter¬ 
nally, without the lateral fringes of hair, and their 
plantie merely oblong, without the external basal auricle. 
The abdomen is also considerably relatively longer; 
and has not the central ventral ridge. 
The male or drone differs from both in being con¬ 
siderably more robust and more completely cylindrical, 
and very much more densely pubescent; the compound 
eyes contiguous at the summit, occupying the whole of 
the vertex, and nearly all the lateral portions of the face, 
extending below to the articulation of the mandibles, 
their pubescence much shorter but denser than in the 
other sex ; the ocelli large, and seated at the top of the 
central portion of the face in a close triangle, a little 
above the insertion of the antenme, and in front of the 
conjunction of the compound eyes, the lateral ones of 
the triangle being closely contiguous to the upper inner 
edge of those eyes; the antennae are more robust and 
rather longer; the cibarial apparatus very short; the 
labial palpi about three-fourths the length of the tongue, 
