VESPIDJ3. 
217 
Nine species are included in this genus and a single Colletes ( C. 
dudgeonii , Bingh.) has been found in Sikkim. 
Apidjs.— Bees. 
Tongue acute , not emarginate. The thorax with branched 
hairs , the basal tarsal joint dilated. 
It is not always easy to recognise a bee at a glance and a fair know¬ 
ledge of other Aculeates enables one, by elimination, to place doubtful 
forms. Actually the group is not well defined structurally though it is 
so on a combined appreciation of habits and structure. Bees are of small 
to moderately large size, their colours often dull, often more or less warn¬ 
ing. The head is well developed, usually with three ocelli; the antennae 
are of moderate length with a scape and a flagellum ; the mouthparts are 
of varied form but include a pair of cutting mandibles, a lower lip and 
maxillae which form the tongue, often very long, and two pairs of palpi ; 
there is great variety in these mouthparts and they are of value in the 
classification. Bees utilise their trophi in a great variety of ways which 
are really very little understood but they are essentially modified biting 
mouthparts of great complexity with the lower lip functioning as a lap¬ 
ping organ for imbibing liquid. The thorax forms a compact mass and is 
highly chitinised; the abdomen is oval, the petiole short and not notice¬ 
able. The ventral surface bears the scopa or pollen-collecting brush in 
those species which collect pollen in this way. The legs are short, hairy 
and the hind tibia and basal joint of the tarsus are dilated and densely 
pubescent for carrying pollen. The use to which most aculeates put the 
hairs is for cleaning antennae and other parts ; pollen-collecting hairs may 
be modified cleaning hairs. 
The Apidce include social and solitary species, the social instinct 
being well developed in Apis in particular though perhaps to a less degree 
than in some Termites and ants. The majority have essentially the 
same habits and life history; the females collect nectar and pollen of 
flowers to feed themselves, to feed their young or to store up for the bene¬ 
fit of their young. A minority are parasitic, laying their eggs in the 
nests of their more energetic food-storing brethren. 
Ip the simpler cases, as in Megachile , each bee makes a solitary nest, 
preparing one cell at a time, filling it with a paste of honey and pollen, 
