the males are very unlike both those of that genus and their own
females, for they all have long cylindrical bodies and very long
antennæ, much longer relatively than those of the former genus. Although
none of the species approach in size the larger ones of the preceding
genus, their extremes of specific size are as distant apart as they are
in that genus, the smallest being extremely minute. Some of even the
commoner species are very pretty when in fine condition, and several of
them have a rich metallic green or blue tint, and in the majority the
wings are iridescent with the brightest and gayest colours of the
rainbow. The numbers in which they associate together upon the same spot
varies considerably, and a very few indeed burrow solitarily and apart
from their congeners. In burrowing they form a tunnel which branches off
to several cells, the excavations being as inartificial as are those of
_Andrena_. Walkenaer tells us in his memoir upon the genus _Halictus_,
that they line their cells with a kind of glaze, that they burrow in
horizontal surfaces to a depth of about five inches, and which they
polish very smoothly previous to covering it with their viscous
secretion, and that the cells are all oval, the largest end being at the
bottom. He says also that they burrow solely during the night,
especially when the moon is shining, when it is difficult to walk
without treading upon them; so numerous are they, indeed, that they look
like a cloud floating close to the surface of the ground. Although
burrowing thus at night, it is only during the day that they supply
their nests with their provision of pollen and lay their eggs. Each of
their cells is furnished with a small ball of pollen, varying in size
with the species, but which never entirely fills the cell, and is
affixed intermediately between both extremities, and upon the mass
contained in each cell they deposit their small egg, which is placed at
the extremity of the lump of pollen most distant from the entrance. The
larva is hatched in about ten days, when it changes into the pupa. Some
doubt attaches as to the length of time that the pupa remains before its
transformation into the imago, and also as to the period at which this
takes place. A peculiarity attends the appearance of the larger species.
Some are very early spring insects, among which is the _Halictus
rubicundus_; this I have seen in abundance on the first fine spring days
collecting its stores on the flowers of the chickweed. It is then in the
very finest condition, and it is really a very beautiful although a very
common insect, having a richly golden fulvous pubescence on the thorax,
an intensely black and glabrous abdomen, the apex of which is fringed
with golden hair. No males are now to be found at all. Yet it is only
some species, and these the larger ones, which are subject to this
peculiarity, for the smaller ones I have found burrowing during the
summer months in vertical or sloping banks with a sunny aspect, whilst
the males were hovering about both in the vicinity and close by,
sometimes either playing or fighting on the wing with the very small
_Nomadæ_, which infest these species parasitically, whilst their females
were sedulously pursuing their vocation. Gradually these joyous spring
insects lose their gayness and their brilliancy, as do those which have
followed in succession of development with the growing year, and they
become senile and faded and are lost as they have progressively
fulfilled their function. By this time the ragwort is in bloom, and the
thistle displays its pinky blossoms; now the males are to be found
numerously exhibiting themselves upon these flowers, and also another
equally fresh brood to those of the spring and early summer, of females.
My friend the late Mr. Pickering, who was in the early days of the
present Entomological Society, when it held its meetings in Old Bond
Street, its honorary curator, and who was then and always, even when
less leisure was afforded him from professional duties, a most assiduous
and diligent observer of the habits of insects, propounded his theory,
both in conversation and before the meetings of the Society, although he
never drew up a paper upon the subject, that these females were then
impregnated, upon which they retired to a hibernaculum, and there
remained until the breath of a new spring brought them forth in all the
beauty of their gay attire, and that it was from their broods deposited
thus in the spring and early summer, that the autumnal insects were
developed. This theory is both plausible and possible, and I have no
doubt that it is the correct one; and thus is explained the total
absence of males at the time of the appearance of the females in the
foremost portions of the year; this habit we shall find also in the
_Bombi_.
The flowers they delight in, besides those previously named, are among
others the ribwort plantain, and the bramble, as well as the
_Umbelliferæ_ and the flowers of the broom. The females possess two
remarkable distinctions of structure not found in any of the other bees,
which consist in an articulated appendage in the centre of the front
margin of the labrum, and a vertical cleft in the terminal segment of
the abdomen, both of which will necessarily have their uses in the
economy of the insect, although what these may be has not been
discovered.
They, like _Andrena_, are exposed to parasites and enemies. The smaller
species of _Nomada_ infest their smaller kinds, and St. Fargeau tells us
that the _Sphecodes_ are also parasitical upon them. The smallest of the
genus, which is indeed an exceedingly minute insect, is subject to a
very minute strepsipterous destroyer; whether this be a genuine
_Stylops_ I am not aware, but the supporting insect being so minute, in
fact the smallest of our bees, how small must be the enemy bred within
it! Another genus of this order has been found by Mr. Dale upon them,
and which is figured as the genus _Elenchus_ in Curtis’s ‘British
Entomology.’ The smaller species are also attacked, upon their return
home laden, by spiders and ants. _Chryses_ and _Hedychra_ are bred at
their expense, and some of the _Ichneumons_ attack them, as well as the
fossorial _Hymenoptera_ of the genera _Cerceris_, _Crabro_, and
_Philanthus_, and these latter carry them off bodily to furnish their
own nests with pabulum. Several of the species exhale a rich balmy
odour, and, like all the _Andrenidæ_, they are silent on the wing, and
their sting is innocuous and not painful. The males are very eager in
their amours, and are not easily repulsed.
Some of the species vary slightly in the neuration of the wings, and
this being a rather numerous genus, although not nearly approaching the
extent of _Andrena_, it has been proposed to make use of it for its
division, but I think this is scarcely required, it not being
sufficiently abundant to cause any inconvenience, the species being so
distinctly marked in their specific differences by the aid of the
metallic brilliancy of several of them. I have therefore arranged the
species in the above list in connective order without intermission, and
have placed in juxtaposition those species which appear the closest in
affinity.
-------
b. _With two submarginal cells to the wings._
Genus 7. MACROPIS, _Panzer_.
(Plate V. fig. 2 ♂ ♀.)
_Gen. Char._: HEAD transverse, as wide as the thorax, flattish; _ocelli_
placed in a very open curve upon the vertex; _face_ flat, but convex in
the centre beneath the insertion of the antennæ; _clypeus_ very slightly
convex; _labrum_ transverse, narrowly lunulate; _mandibles_ bidentate;
_cibarial apparatus_ moderately long; _tongue_ very acute and fringed
with delicate down; _paraglossæ_ barely half the length of the tongue,
and acute, their apex fringed laterally with down; _labial palpi_
inserted in a deep sinus, filiform, the basal joint the longest, the
rest diminishing both in length and substance; _labium_ about half the
length of the entire organ, its inosculation emarginate; _maxillæ_
hastate, rather longer than the tongue; _maxillary palpi_ six-jointed,
the basal joint the shortest, the third the longest, the remainder
diminishing gradually in length, and all declining in substance from the
basal joint. THORAX oval, rather pubescent; _prothorax_ transverse,
curving to the mesothorax, whose _bosses_ are inconspicuous; _scutellum_
transverso-quadrate; _post-scutellum_ transverse linear; _metathorax_
truncated. WINGS with two submarginal cells, and a third commenced, the
second about as long as the first, and receiving both the recurrent
nervures, the first near its commencement, and the second nearer its
extremity; _legs_ robust, with the posterior _tibiæ_ and _plantæ_
densely clothed externally with short hair; the _plantæ_ broad; the
second joint of the _tarsus_ inserted at the lower angle of the plantæ;
_claws_ bifid. ABDOMEN subtriangular, truncated at its base, not longer
than the thorax.
The MALE differs in having the _antennæ_ as long as the thorax and
curved; the _posterior coxæ_ very large and robust, the _trochanters_
small and triangular; the _femora_ large and much swollen in the centre,
the posterior _tibiæ_ very large and triangular and convex externally,
and the _plantæ_ longer than the rest of the tarsus, and slightly curved
beneath longitudinally.
NATIVE SPECIES.
1. _labiata_, Panzer, ♂ ♀. 4-4½ lines.
(Plate V. fig. 2 ♂ ♀.)
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS.
The name of this genus comes from _μακρὸς_, _long_, and _ὦψ_, _face_, in
allusion to the length of that portion of the head, although this
assumed discriminative characteristic is scarcely suitable; this again
constitutes another of the many instances wherein it would have been
much preferable to have imposed a name without any significancy than one
which is not thoroughly applicable. It is, indeed, always dangerous to
attach a name to a new genus which has reference to some individual
peculiarity, for it may eventually exhibit itself as limited to the one
single species or sex to which it was originally applied, as to every
other subsequently discovered species in the genus it may be
inappropriate.
Nothing, so far as I am aware, is known of the habits of these singular
insects, which, I believe, have been caught only three times in this
country and then only the male sex.
The first, which is in the collection of the British Museum, was brought
by Dr. Leach from Devonshire; the second was caught in the New Forest by
the late John Walton, Esq., distinguished for his knowledge of the
British _Curculionidæ_, and who kindly presented it to me for my
collection when I was at the zenith of my enthusiasm for the
Hymenoptera, and with that collection it passed to Mr. Thomas Desvignes,
in whose possession it remains; and the third was caught by Mr. Stevens,
at Weybridge, in Surrey. Why I enter so particularly into these
circumstances is, that the genus is extremely peculiar both for
scientific position and for structure. In the latter the male is
extremely like the male of _Saropoda_ and its female is more like the
female _Scopulipedes_ among the _Apidæ_ than one of the _Andrenidæ_,
especially in the form of the abdomen and of the intermediate and
posterior legs, as well as in the length of the claws and the low
insertion of the posterior joints of the tarsi upon their plantæ, a
peculiarity not occurring in another genus of the _Andrenidæ_.
I have no doubt, also, that they are very musical in their flight and
are, perhaps, as shrill-winged as is _Saropoda_; whereas one of the
great characteristic specialities of the _Andrenidæ_ is their silence.
This genus, although restrained within the circuit of the subnormal bees
by the structure and folding of its tongue, has so much of the habit of
one of the true _Apidæ_ that it almost prompts the wish to resuscitate
the circular systems and place it within its own circle in analogical
juxtaposition to _Saropoda_ in the circle of the _Apidæ_, where they
might impinge one upon the other. It is not often that so rare an insect
is at the same time so curious and so suggestive. Having been found,
there is no reason why it may not be again found with due and patient
diligence; my own experience has taught me how easy it is even in
well-hunted ground to make rarities common, within almost a stone’s
throw of the metropolis, at Hampstead, Highgate, and Battersea, from
which localities in the course of my entomological career I have
introduced to our fauna many novelties, one of which was certainly a
remarkable discovery, from the last spot named, which it is worth
recording. A quantity of soil had been removed from the City where an
artesian well was being bored, and consequently from varying depths, and
carted thence and cast upon the edge of the river-bank at Battersea. The
following season, from this soil, a thick and prodigious quantity of the
common mustard plant shot up, and when in flower I happened to be
collecting near the spot on the day of our gracious Queen’s coronation,
when I captured multitudes of a splendid large _Allantus_, entirely new
to the British fauna, and a choice addition to collections. This ground
had been hunted at all seasons through all botanical and entomological
time, and neither had the mustard plant been found there before nor had
the insect. Whence did they both come? These observations have certainly
nothing to do with the subject in hand, beyond suggesting that with
untiring energy in the vicinities indicated where _Macropis_ has been
already found it may possibly turn up in abundance.
-------
Genus 8. DASYPODA, _Latreille_.
MELITTA ** _c_, partly, Kirby.
(Plate V. fig. 3 ♂ ♀.)
_Gen. Char._: HEAD transverse; _vertex_ glabrous; _ocelli_ placed in a
curved line; _antennæ_ short, filiform, geniculated, the scape thickly
bearded with long hair and scarcely half the length of the flagellum;
_face_ and _clypeus_ densely pubescent, the latter slightly convex;
_labrum_ transverse, linear, slightly rounded in front; _mandibles_
arcuate, bidentate, the teeth acute and robust; _cibarial apparatus_
moderately long; _tongue_ long, very acute, and fringed with delicate
hair; _paraglossæ_ about one-third the length of the tongue, very
slender, and acute; the _labial palpi_ inserted upon the junction of the
labium, very slender, filiform, of uniform thickness, the joints
subclavate, the basal joint considerably the longest, the second joint
also long, the two terminal joints much shorter and decreasing in
length; _labium_ about the length of the tongue, its inosculation
acutely triangular; _maxillæ_ hastate, as long as the tongue; _maxillary
palpi_ six-jointed, rather more than half the length of the maxillæ,
slender, the basal joint the most robust, the second the longest, the
rest declining both in thickness and length. THORAX oval, densely
pubescent, the divisions indistinct from its density; _scutellum_
lunulate; _metathorax_ subtruncate; _wings_ with two submarginal cells
and a third commenced, the second receiving both the recurrent nervures,
the first close to its commencement and the second just beyond its
centre; _legs_ slender, pubescent, especially the _tibiæ_ and _plantæ_,
the hair upon the posterior pair being extremely dense and long, and
each hair twisted minutely spirally; their _coxæ_, _trochanters_, and
_femora_ also covered with long hair; _claws_ bifid, the inner tooth
very short. ABDOMEN oval, the basal and fifth segments densely hairy,
the superior surface glabrous and shining, excepting where the white
decumbent bands broadly edge the three intermediate segments.
The MALE differs in being more densely pubescent, especially upon the
abdomen, which is not glabrous, and in not having the _antennæ_
geniculated; the bands of the _abdomen_ are fulvous, and its legs are
longer and more slender, and it is sexually less hairy, although still
considerably so.
NATIVE SPECIES.
1. _hirtipes_, Fab., ♂ ♀. 6-7 lines. (Plate V. fig. 3 ♂ ♀.)
_Swammerdamella_, Kirby.
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS.
This genus is named from the extreme hairiness of its posterior legs,
_ποῦς_, _hairy_, _ποûς, ποδὸς_, _foot or leg_. It is one of the most
elegant of our native bees, both in form and the extreme congruity of
its habiliment. This is unfortunately but a bridal raiment, for almost
as soon as the arduous duties of maternity supervene these bright
garments fade, and the workday suit immediately shows the wear and tear
produced by the labours of life. The male flaunts about longer in the
freshness of his attire, but he is usually the assiduous companion of
his spouse, although he does not participate in her toils. They are late
summer insects, and form their burrows upon banks having a southern
aspect; these they excavate deeper than does _Andrena_, and smooth and
polish them internally. They generally prefer spots intertangled with
shrubs, and at the mouth of the cylinder they tunnel they heap up the
extracted soil, to use a portion for closing it when their task is
accomplished. In the course of this process, especially if a cloud pass
over the sun, they will come forward to the aperture. They collect large
quantities of pollen, for which the hair upon their posterior tibiæ and
plantæ is excellently well adapted both by its length and the additional
storing power it possesses in each individual hair being spirally
twisted, although they are unprovided with the furniture of hair upon
the femora and coxæ found in the genus _Andrenæ_. Thus nature likes to
vary its mode of accomplishing the same object. The details of their
nursery processes are not known. For their protection their sting is
very virulent, and also actively employed, as they have many enemies,
especially amongst the fossorial _Hymenoptera_, whom they stoutly resist
to the extent of their strength. We are not aware of any special
parasites that infest them. They are semi-gregarious in their habits,
for where they occur any quantity of them may be taken. They are found
in their season in the southern counties, the Isle of Wight, and in
several parts of Kent and its eastern coast, and even as near London as
Charlton. They seem to prefer the composite flowers, having a great
liking for the bastard Hawkweed and the Dandelion. A fine series of them
forms a great ornament to a collection.
-------
Subfamily 2. APIDÆ (Normal Bees), _Latreille_.
_Syn._ APIS, _Kirby_.
_Tongue always folded back in repose._
_Maxillary palpi varying in the number of the joints._
Section 1. _Solitary._
Subsection 1. SCOPULIPEDES (brush-legged).
a. _Femoriferæ_ (collectors on entire leg).
† _With two submarginal cells to the wings._
Genus 9. PANURGUS, _Panzer_.
(Plate VI. fig. 1 ♂♀.)
APIS * _a_, _Kirby_.
_Gen. Char._: HEAD transversely subquadrate; _ocelli_ in a triangle on
the _vertex_, which, as well as the _face_, is convex, the latter
between the antennæ carinated as far as the clypeus; _antennæ_ short,
subclavate, the second joint of the flagellum considerably the longest,
the remainder equal; _clypeus_ slightly convex; _labrum_ transversely
quadrate, convex; _mandibles_ acutely unidentate; _cibarial apparatus_
long; _tongue_ half its entire length, gradually acute, and fringed
laterally with delicate hair; _paraglossæ_ slender, acute, membranous,
not quite half the length of the tongue; _labial palpi_ more than half
the length of the tongue, the basal joint longer than the two following,
the remainder gradually decreasing in length, all conterminous; _labium_
half the length of the cibarial apparatus, broad; _maxillæ_ slender,
subhastate, as long as the tongue; _maxillary palpi_ six-jointed, the
basal joint robust, subclavate, as is the second joint, but more
slender, the remainder filiform, gradually declining in length. THORAX
oval; _prothorax_ inconspicuous; _mesothorax_ with a deep central
groove; _bosses_ protuberant; _scutellum_ and _post-scutellum_ lunulate;
_metathorax_ gibbous; wings with the marginal cell slightly
appendiculated, two submarginal cells and a third commenced, the second
receiving both the recurrent nervures, the first close to its
commencement and the second beyond its centre; the _legs_ densely
pilose, the posterior pair having their _coxæ_ and _trochanters_
beneath, their _femora_ in front, above, the _tibiæ_ and _plantæ_ all
round, covered with long hair; _claws_ bifid. ABDOMEN ovate, the base
subtruncate, the basal segment having a deep central impression at its
base, the fifth segment fringed with short dense hair, the terminal
segment with a triangular plate carinated in the centre, and fimbriated
laterally, and all very slightly constricted.
The MALE scarcely differs, except in having the _head_ rather more
globose and more pubescent; and the _legs_, although still hairy, much
less so than in the female.
NATIVE SPECIES.
1. _Banksiana_, Kirby, ♂♀. 4-5¼ lines.
_ursinus_, Curtis, iii. 101. (Plate VI. fig. 1 ♂♀.)
2. _calcaratus_, Scopoli, ♂♀. 3-4 lines.
_ursinus_, Kirby.
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS.
_Πανοῦργος_ signifies _one excessively industrious_, at least as it is
applied here, although it has other less meritorious meanings, but these
insects can scarcely be considered more energetic than any of their
associates; perhaps the contrast made between the bright yellow pollen
and their lugubrious vestment might give the idea of very active
collecting, they being usually, upon returning from their foray, almost
entirely disguised in the produce of their excursion. They are rather
remarkable insects from their intensely black colour and their compact
active forms; their square head and short clavate antennæ give them a
sturdy business-like appearance. They also are silent on the wing, but
being at the very van of the present subfamily, forming as it were the
advanced picket of the _Apidæ_, it may be considered suitable that they
should retain, by way of partial disguise, some of the characteristics
of the preceding subfamily. In many respects, therefore, they closely
approach _Dasypoda_: thus their legs are similarly furnished with hair,
relatively as long and having the same spiral twist, and their whole
habit is that of one of the _Andrenidæ_, excepting that their clavate
antennæ, and the folding of their tongue in repose, separate them from
that subfamily. They are local insects, but extremely abundant when
fallen upon. I used to find the first species upon an elevated plateau,
on the south side over-hanging the Vale of Health and its large pond at
Hampstead. Every Dandelion, for a wide circuit in the vicinity, was
crowded with individuals—assiduously collecting, in the case of females,
but basking in sunny indolence, and revelling in the attractions of the
flower, in the case of males, and, at the same time, their burrowing
spot, which was not larger than half-a-dozen square yards, was swarming
with them, coming and going, burrowing and provisioning. Very numerous,
but not so numerous as themselves, were their pretty parasite, the
_Nomada Fabriciana_, fine specimens of both sexes of which I have
constantly captured; and a remarkable singularity pertaining to the
latter is, that some seasons it would totally fail, and another season
present itself sparsely, when, after these lapses, it would recur in all
its primitive profusion, although the _Panurgus_ was every season
equally present. Both these insects are found during the months of June
and July, especially about the middle of the former. In their burrows,
which they perforate vertically, they usually enclose about six cells,
each being duly provisioned and the egg deposited, when each is
separately closed and the orifice of the cylinder filled up. This
species is also found in Kent and Surrey, and I have no doubt they might
be discovered in most of the southern counties. The smaller species,
which is a good deal like a little _Tiphia_, is remarkable for the
peculiarity of the male having a projecting process upon its posterior
femora, whence it derives its specific name, _calcaratus_, which is
hardly consistent, as it is not quite the right place for a spur. This
smaller species is also found in Kent, Hampshire, and at Weybridge, in
Surrey, and in the Isle of Wight. As well as in the _Leontodon_, it
likes to repose in the flowers of the Mouse-ear Hawkweed (_Hieracium_).
-------
b. _Cruriferæ_ (collectors on the shanks and tarsi).
† _With two submarginal cells to the wings._
Genus 10. EUCERA, _Scopoli_.
(Plate VI. fig. 2 ♂ ♀.)
APIS ** _d_ 1, Kirby.
_Gen. Char._: HEAD transverse; _vertex_ concave; _ocelli_ in a curve,
and very high up; _face_ flattish; _clypeus_ very convex, hirsute, and
fimbriated; _labrum_ transverse-ovate, and emarginate in front;
_mandibles_ very obtusely and inconspicuously bidentate; _tongue_ very
long and slender, and gradually acuminating, transversely striated;
_paraglossæ_ slender, membranous, very acute, and about two-thirds the
length of the tongue; _labial palpi_ membranous, and about the length of
the paraglossæ, the basal joint linear, broad, longer than the rest
united, the second about half its length and acuminate, the two terminal
ones are very short and equal, and articulate within the apex of the
second joint; _labium_ less than half the length of the tongue, its
inosculation concave; _maxillæ_ two-thirds the length of the tongue,
subhastate; _maxillary palpi_ six-jointed, short, less than one-third
the length of the maxillæ, the basal joint robust, the rest filiform,
and gradually decreasing in length and substance. THORAX very pubescent,
which conceals its divisions; _metathorax_ truncated; _wings_ with two
submarginal cells, the second receiving both the recurrent nervures, one
near each of its extremities; _legs_ setose, especially the tibiæ and
plantæ, which, in the posterior pair is very dense on the exterior of
the tibiæ, and both externally and internally upon the plantæ, the
following joints of the posterior tarsi inserted beneath, and within the
extremity of their plantæ; the claw-joint being longer than the two
preceding, and the _claws_ acutely bifid. ABDOMEN oval, convex above,
subtruncate at the base, where it is thickly pubescent, the other
segments glabrous on the disk; the fifth segment fimbriated with
decumbent short hair, and the terminal segment having a central
triangular plate at the sides of which it is rigidly setose.
The MALE differs in having the _antennæ_ longer than the thorax,
filiform, but with their several joints curved, the curvature increasing
towards the terminal joints, the integument of the whole of the
flagellum consisting of a congeries of minute hexagons, the edges of
which are all raised, and the whole resembling shagreen; the legs have
the usual sexual slighter and extended development, and are necessarily
less setose; it is also deficient in the transverse whitish bands of
decumbent hair upon the abdomen, which is more densely pubescent on the
first and second segments; and the four terminal joints of the posterior
tarsi are conterminous with their plantæ.
NATIVE SPECIES.
1. _longicornis_, Linnæus. 6-7 lines. (Plate VI. fig. 2 ♂♀.)
_longicornis_, Kirby.
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS.
This genus derives its name from the great length of the antennæ in the
male,—_εὖ_, _good_ or _great_, _κέρας_, _horn_. The name of the genus is
usually given from some female characteristic, or from a peculiarity
common to both sexes, or irrespective of any direct application, but
here we find it deduced from a feature exclusively masculine. Instances
of the first class we see in _Colletes_, _Halictus_, _Andrena_,
_Dasypoda_, _Panurgus_, _Saropoda_, _Ceratina_, _Cœlioxys_,
_Chelostoma_, _Heriades_, _Anthocopa_, and _Apathus_; of the second
class we have _Prosopis_, _Sphecodes_, _Macropis_, _Anthophora_,
_Nomada_, _Melecta_, perhaps _Epeolus_, according to Latreille’s idea,
_Stelis_, _Anthidium_, _Osmia_, and _Bombus_; the third class comprises
in our series merely _Cilissa_, and in this series the male
characteristics that have suggested the name are just as few, being
limited to the present genus. But the males among the bees exhibit in
many cases strong and striking peculiarities which distinguish them from
their partners. Exclusively of the general distinction expressed in
their organic difference by the possession of one additional joint to
the antennæ and one more segment to the abdomen than is exhibited in the
females, we find in many cases in these two parts of their structure
very marked singularities. Great sexual differences in the length of the
antennæ are not restricted to the present genus; in fact, in most of the
genera, this is the first striking feature, but which becomes
conspicuously so in some species of _Sphecodes_, in most of the
_Halicti_, in some _Nomadæ_, in _Chelostoma_, _Osmia_, _Apathus_, and
_Bombus_. In _Eucera_ and _Sphecodes_, each joint of the flagellum is
slightly curved, and in the former the surface of those joints appears
compounded of hexagons. In _Chelostoma_ the antennæ, besides being
longer than in the female, are also very much slighter and slightly
compressed, and have a structure capable of curling upon itself; in the
female of this genus the organ is clavate; and in _Osmia_, besides their
length, in one species the male has a fringe of hair attached to one
side along the whole of the organ. In other cases, where the antennæ are
not remarkably longer in the male they have extra development by
becoming thicker, as in _Melecta_; and in _Megachile_ the terminal joint
of their antennæ is laterally dilated and compressed. In scarcely any
case are they geniculated at the scape in the male, as they are in the
female. The other genera with clavate antennæ have the same structure in
both sexes, as in _Panurgus_ and _Ceratina_. Remarkable peculiarities in
the terminal ventral segment or segments of the male may be found most
conspicuously developed in _Halictus_, _Cœlioxys_, _Anthidium_,
_Chelostoma_, _Heriades_, _Osmia_, _Apathus_, Bombus, and Apis. In
_Cœlioxys_ and _Anthidium_, and some of the _Osmiæ_, this sex is further
furnished with a series of projecting spines, processes, or serrations
at the apex of the terminal dorsal segment. In _Chelostoma_, the ventral
structure of the male is very singular, the apex being adapted to a
mucro at the base which permits the insect to curl up this portion of
the body similarly to its antennæ, the furcated extremity of the abdomen
fitting, when thus folded, upon the mucro. It is as well to draw
observation to these peculiarities, which give additional interest to
the study of the group.
The genus _Eucera_ appears in May and June. In some parts they are found
in large colonies; although I have seen them abundant I never found them
in this gregarious condition, and I have usually discovered them
frequenting loamy and sandy soils; they burrow a cell six or eight
inches deep, form an oval chamber at its extremity, which as well as the
sides of the cylinder leading to it they make extremely smooth, and by
some process prevent its absorbing the mixture of honey and pollen which
they store for the supply of the larva, and each contains but one young
one. These, having full fed, lie in a dormant state throughout the
winter and do not change into pupæ until mid-spring, and speedily
transform into the imago, which, until fully matured, is closely in
every part and limb covered with a thin silky pellicle, wherein it lies
as in a shroud, but at its appointed time, regulated by some influence
of which we have no cognizance, active life becomes developed, it then
casts off its envelope and comes forth to revel in the sunshine, in
close companionship with a partner which its instinct promptly teaches
it to find. The largest of our native _Nomadæ_ is its parasite the _N.
sexcincta_, and which seems wholly restricted to it, but which is often
even rare in places where the _Eucera_ abounds. The female, like those
of the rest of the bees, is no time-waster, but flies steadily to and
fro in her occupation of provisioning her nest, and the male often
accompanies her in these expeditions, gallantly winging about with
extreme velocity as if to divert his sedulous companion in the fatigue
of her toil, by his evolutions and his music, which is very sonorous.
And on a fine May day it is extremely pleasant in a picturesque
situation to sit and watch the operations of these very active insects.
In their recent state, when just evolved from the nidus, they are very
elegant, being covered with a close silky down, which labour and
exposure soon abrades. It is said that this bee deserts her nest when
she finds the stranger’s egg deposited on the provender laid up in
store, or when she meets with the _Nomada_ within, which sometimes lays
two eggs in one cell. To this she does not deliver battle, as does the
_Anthophora_ to _Melecta_, but patiently vacates the nest, leaving it to
the service of the parasite, which is also supposed to close it herself,
having been caught with clay encrusted upon her posterior legs. For the
accuracy of this supposition I cannot vouch, never having observed the
circumstance, nor have I seen reason to abandon the idea that the
parasite has no instinct for labour of any kind,—the presence of the
clay being, I expect, merely accidental, for it is notorious that these
insects have an overruling predilection for keeping themselves extremely
clean.
-------
†† _With three submarginal cells to the wings._
Genus 11. ANTHOPHORA, _Latreille_.
(Plate VI. fig. 3, and Plate VII. fig. 1.)
APIS ** _d_, 2 _a_, Kirby.
_Gen. Char._: HEAD transverse, nearly as wide as the thorax; _vertex_
depressed; _ocelli_ placed in a curved line upon its posterior margin;
_antennæ_ short, subclavate, basal joint of flagellum globose, its
second joint longer than the scape, very slender, the rest of the joints
subequal; _face_ flattish; _clypeus_ protuberant; _labrum_ quadrate,
convex; _mandibles_ distinctly bidentate and obtuse; _cibarial
apparatus_ very long; _tongue_ very long, transversely striated, and
with a small knob at the extremity; _paraglossæ_ about one-third the
length of the tongue, acuminate; _labial palpi_ slender, more than half
the length of the tongue, membranous, the basal joint as long again as
the remainder, the second joint very slender and very acute; the two
terminal joints very short and subclavate, inserted before the extremity
of the second joint; _labium_ short, one-fourth the length of the
tongue, its inosculation concave; _maxillæ_ hastate, not so long as the
tongue; _maxillary palpi_ one-third the length of the maxillæ,
six-jointed, the basal joint very robust, the rest filiform, the second
the longest, and all the rest decreasing in length and substance. THORAX
oval, densely pubescent, which conceals its divisions; _metathorax_
truncated; _wings_ with three submarginal cells, closed, the second
receives the first recurrent nervure in its centre, and the third, which
bulges externally, receives the second at its extremity; _legs_ setose,
the exterior of the posterior _tibiæ_ and _plantæ_ moderately so, and
the interior of the latter also densely setose; the second joint of the
posterior _tarsi_ inserted beneath and within the termination of their
plantæ; the claw-joint longer than the two preceding; _claws_ bifid, the
inner tooth distant from the external. ABDOMEN ovate, subpubescent, the
fifth segment densely fimbriated and the terminal segment with an
emarginate appendage.
In the MALES the antennæ are very similar, but the mandibles are more
acutely bidentate, and with the exception of the form of the legs, the
general aspect is like the female; the legs, although setose, are less
conspicuously so, the intermediate tarsi in the first section of the
genus being longer than the rest of the entire leg, and are fringed
externally with very long hair, or it is restricted to the plantæ of
that leg and then it is short and very rigid; the entire limb stretched
out extends beyond the widest expansion of the superior wings. The
ABDOMEN is also less retuse than in the female, at its basal segment.
In the second division of this genus, of which _Anthophora furcata_ may
be considered to be the type, the general habit is precisely the same,
but the insects are not so pubescent, and there is a greater similarity
between the sexes. The intermediate legs also, although long in the
male, are not so extremely long as they are in the first section.
NATIVE SPECIES.
§ _Males with elongate tufted intermediate tarsi, and differing from
female in colour._
1. _retusa_, Linnæus, ♂ ♀. 6 lines. (Plate VI. fig. 3 ♂ ♀.)
_Haworthana_, Kirby.
_Haworthana_, Curtis, viii. 357.
2. _acervorum_, Fabricius, ♂ ♀. 6-8 lines.
_retusa_, Kirby.
§§ _Males without elongate tufted intermediate tarsi, concolorous with
their females._
3. _furcata_, Panzer, ♂ ♀. 5-6 lines. (Plate VII. fig. 1 ♂ ♀.)
_furcata_, Kirby.
4. _quadrimaculata_, Panzer, ♂ ♀. 4-5 lines.
_vulpina_, Kirby.
_subglobosa_, Kirby.
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS.
The name _ἄνθος_, _φὼρ φωρὸς_, _flower-rifler_, would be as suitable for
any other genus of bees, and therefore may be classed with those names
which have no explicit signification.
The two divisions which our native species of this genus form, might
very consistently constitute two genera, differing so much as they do
both in habit and habits. In the first section the males totally differ
from their females, the latter being black and the pubescence of their
partners fulvous, and whose intermediate legs are so much longer, and
are decorated besides with tufts of hair upon their plantæ, neither
peculiarity being found in those of the second section, which conform
more regularly to the ordinary type of structure. The first section also
nidificate gregariously, forming enormous colonies which consist of many
hundreds; whereas the second are solitary nidificators, and at most
half-a-dozen may be found within as many square yards of territory, and
one species, the _A. furcata_, diverges considerably from the ordinary
habits of the genus, and closely approaches those of the foreign genus
_Xylocopa_, but its structure necessarily retains it within the
boundaries of the genus. All these insects exhibit the peculiar
characteristic of the _Scopulipedes_, in the insertion of the second
joint of the posterior tarsi at the very bottom of their plantæ,
conjunctively with the polliniferous scopa, placed externally upon their
tibiæ and plantæ, in which characteristics the Andrenoid _Macropis_
remarkably resembles them, and which I have noticed in my remarks upon
that genus.
The first section burrows in banks, where their colonies are extremely
numerous. In the tunnels which they form they construct several
elliptical cells which they line with a delicate membrane of a white
colour, formed by a secretion or saliva derived from the digestion of
either the pollen or the honey which they consume. Each cell when formed
is stored as usual, and the egg deposited, and then it is closed. There
is but little variation in these processes among all the solitary bees,
excepting in the case of the artisan bees and the more elaborate
processes of _Colletes_, in which, however, the casing is merely
thicker, arising from several layers of the coating membrane. The
perfect insects make their appearance during the spring and summer
months, their successive maturity being the result of the previous
summer and autumn deposit of eggs. They pass the winter and spring in
the larva state, and undergo their transformations into pupa and imago
with but slight interval, and only shortly before the appearance of the
perfect insect. When first presenting themselves they are certainly very
handsome insects, and if carefully killed preserve their beauty for many
years in the cabinet. I have found the retusa, Linn., (Kirby’s
_Haworthana_,) in enormous profusion at Hampstead Heath, indeed, so
numerous were they, that late in the afternoon, upon approaching the
colony, they, in returning home, would strike as forcibly against me as
is often done by _Melolontha vulgaris_ or _Geotrupes stercorarius_. In
equal abundance I have found the _A. acervorum_ at Charlton, where I
have experienced a similar battery. This is the insect which Gilbert
White, in his letters from Selborne, describes as having found in
numbers at Mount Caburn, near Lewes, a spot I have often visited in my
schoolboy days. This section is subject to the parasitism of the genus
_Melecta_, whose incursions are very repugnant to them, and which they
exhibit in very fierce pugnacity, for if they catch the intruder in her
invasion they will draw her forth and deliver battle with great fury. I
have seen both the combatants rolling in the dust, the combat and escape
made perhaps easier to the _Melecta_ by the load the _Anthophora_ was
bearing home. Upon the larva also of this bee it is said that the larva
of the Heteromerous genus _Meloë_ is nurtured; this I have never been
able to verify, but I believe the fact is fully confirmed. This beetle
is closely allied to the _Cantharides_, or blister-beetles, and it
itself exudes a very acrimonious yellow liquid when touched or
irritated. Two of the _Chalcididæ_ also infest their larvæ, which they
destroy; one is the _Melittobia_, named thus from its preying upon bees;
it, like the majority of its tribe, is exceedingly minute, and of a
shining dark green metallic colour. It is peculiar from having its
lateral eyes simple, and in possessing besides three ocelli. The other
genus is _Monodontomeris_, an equally small insect, which, although
living upon the larva of _Anthophora_, is equally preyed upon by that of
the _Melittobia_. The universal scourge, _Forficula_, is a great
devastator of these colonies, where, of course, it revels in its
destructive propensities.
The insects of the second division I have never been able to track to
their burrows, but have always caught them either on the wing or on
flowers, especially upon those of the common Mallow, and I have found
both species all round London. They are said also to frequent the Dead
Nettle (_Lamium purpureum_). The _A. quadrimaculata_ burrows in banks,
and its processes are scarcely different from those of the preceding
species, only its habits are solitary. In flight it is exceedingly
rapid, and thus much resembles _Saropoda_. But the _A. furcata_ bores
into putrescent wood, in which it forms a longitudinal pipe subdivided
into nine or ten oval divisions, separated from each other by
agglutinated scrapings of the same material, very much masticated, the
closing of each forming a sharp sort of cornice; each of these cells is
about half an inch in length, and three-tenths of an inch in diameter,
the separations between them being about a line thick. These pipes or
cylinders run parallel to the sides of the wood thus bored, an angle
being made both at its commencement and its termination, and thus the
latter permits the ready escape of the developed imago nearest that
extremity, which being the first deposited, that cell being the first
constructed, it necessarily becomes the first transmuted, and thus has
not to wait for the egress of all above it.
All these insects are usually accompanied by their partners in their
flight, and their amorous intercourse takes place upon the wing.
-------
Genus 12. SAROPODA, _Latreille_.
(Plate VII. fig. 2 ♂♀.)
APIS ** _d_, 2, a, Kirby.
_Gen. Char._: HEAD transverse, as wide as the thorax, very pubescent;
_ocelli_ placed in a triangle, the anterior one low towards the face;
_vertex_ slightly concave; _antennæ_ short, filiform, basal joint of
flagellum globose, the second joint subclavate and the longest, the rest
short and equal; _face_ flattish, short; _clypeus_ forming an obtuse
triangle, slightly convex; _labrum_ quadrate, with the angles rounded;
_mandibles_ obtusely bidentate; _cibarial apparatus_ long; _tongue_ very
long and slender, but gradually expanding towards half its length and
then as gradually tapering to the extremity and terminating in a small
knob, its sides throughout being fimbriated with short delicate down;
_paraglossæ_ one-third its length, membranous, very delicate, and
tapering to a point; _labial palpi_ slender, membranous, the joints
conterminous, the basal joint more than half the length of the tongue,
the remainder short, the second the longest of these three, and all
tapering to the pointed apical one; _labium_ scarcely one-third as long
as the tongue, rather broad, bifid at its inosculation; _maxillæ_ nearly
as long as the tongue, gradually diminishing from its basal sinus to a
point at its extremity; _maxillary palpi_ four-jointed, about one-third
the length of the maxillæ, the basal joint short, robust, the second
tapering from its base to the third joint, which is rather shorter and
subclavate, the terminal joint slender. THORAX very pubescent, rendering
its divisions inconspicuous; _scutellum_ and _post-scutellum_ lunulate
and convex; _metathorax_ truncated; _wings_ as in _Anthophora_, with
three marginal cells closed, the second forming a truncated triangle,
and receiving the first recurrent nervure near its centre, the third
bulging outwardly and receiving the second recurrent nervure at its
extremity; _legs_ very setose, especially the posterior tibiæ
externally, and their plantæ both externally and internally, but the
setæ are longer on the exterior of the joint, the second joint of these
tarsi inserted beneath, and before the termination of their plantæ, the
terminal joint longer than the two preceding; _claws_ bifid, the inner
tooth distant from the apex. ABDOMEN subovate, very convex, truncated at
its base, where it is densely pubescent, the fifth segment fimbriated
with stiff setæ, and the terminal segment having a central triangular
plate with rigid setæ at its sides.
The MALE scarcely differs, excepting in the characteristic sexual
disparities of slightly longer antennæ, and considerably longer
intermediate tarsi, whose apical joint is very clavate.
NATIVE SPECIES.
1. _bimaculata_, Panzer. ♂ ♀. 4-5 lines. (Plate VII. fig. 2 ♂ ♀.)
_bimaculata_, Kirby.
_rotundata_, Kirby.
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS.
The name of this genus is as applicable to the subsection as to the
genus itself, _σάρος_, _brush_, _ποῦς ποδὸς_, _a foot_, in allusion to
their polliniferous posterior legs.
We have but one species, but it is very characteristic; for, although
retaining several of the features of the second division of _Anthophora_
(in the colouring of the face it participates with the males of both
divisions), yet has it still a marked physiognomy of its own; it retains
the normal colouring of bees generally, but its strongest distinction
from that division of _Anthophora_ is the shortness of the antennæ in
the female, as in the length of the intermediate legs of the male it
would seem to form a link between the two divisions, could a distinct
genus stand in such a position, and would almost import the necessity of
elevating that division to generic rank, as hinted at in the
observations under _Anthophora_. In the large development of its claws
it seems to point to an economy somewhat differing from that second
division, but nobody appears to have traced it to its nidus. I have
often captured it at Battersea upon the Mallow, together with _A.
quadrimaculata_, but the singular velocity of its flight might indicate
a very distant domicile,—in a few minutes it could traverse miles. The
electrical vivacity and rich opaline tint of its eyes has been often
observed, but this, unfortunately, fades with death; yet so marked is it
that it has called forth the distinct observation of a Panzer and a
Kirby. Besides the Mallow it has been observed to frequent the Heaths,
and were its habits better known would be found, I have no doubt, to
visit many other flowers, for Curtis took it in the Isle of Wight
sleeping in the great Knapweed, _Centaurea scabiosa_. I have never
caught it laden.
I have hazarded the conjecture in a different part of this work that the
music of the bees might be attuned to a musical scale by associating the
different species in the due gradation of their varying tones. Here we
have one of the most musical of the tribe,—not a monotonous dull sleepy
hum, but a fine _contralto_, the very Patti amongst the bees. But it is
rapidity of motion which in them intensifies the note they chant, and
the velocity of the flight of this insect is something remarkable. They
dart about with almost the rapidity of a flash of lightning, and this
swiftness of approach and retreat modulates their accents.
Under the head “Macropis” I have pointed to some strong resemblances
between this genus and that.
-------
Genus 13. CERATINA, _Latreille_.
(Plate VII. fig. 3 ♂ ♀.)
APIS ** _d_ 2, a, Kirby.
_Gen. Char._: HEAD transverse, convex, glabrous; _ocelli_ placed in a
triangle on the vertex, which is, as well as the face, convex; _antennæ_
short, subclavate, each inserted in a separate deep cavity in the centre
of the face, the first joint of the flagellum globose, the second the
longest of all and slender at its base, but all gradually enlarging to
the extremity; _clypeus_ very gibbous; _labrum_ quadrate, convex;
_cibarial apparatus_ long; _tongue_ long and tapering, and with a minute
knob at its extremity; _paraglossæ_ obsolete; _labial palpi_
three-fourths as long as the tongue, the two first joints membranous and
diminishing in width, the second joint rather shorter than the basal one
and acute at its extremity, and externally before its termination the
two very short terminal ones are inserted; _labium_ half the length of
the tongue, with a lozenge-shaped inosculation; _maxillæ_ as long as the
tongue, broad at the base, whence it abruptly acuminates to the slender
apex; _maxillary palpi_ six-jointed, filiform, the three first joints
subequal, the three terminal gradually decreasing in length. THORAX
oval, glabrous; _prothorax_ inconspicuous; _mesothorax_ with a central
basal groove, the _bosses_ conspicuous and shining; _scutellum_ and
_post-scutellum_ lunulate; _metathorax_ subtruncate; _wings_ with three
submarginal cells and a fourth slightly commenced, the second in the
form of a truncated triangle, the third considerably larger than the
second, and each receiving a recurrent nervure just beyond the centre;
_legs_ plumose but not densely so, the hair very long within the
posterior tibiæ, but denser and shorter on its exterior; the _posterior
plantæ_ also plumose, and all the joints of the posterior tarsi
conterminous; _claws_ bifid. ABDOMEN glabrous, subclavate, very convex
above and flat beneath, subtruncate at the base, and the basal segments
slightly constricted.
The MALE scarcely differs, excepting in the _clypeus_ being less
gibbous, the _legs_ not plumose, and the sixth segment of the _abdomen_
carinated in the centre towards its extremity, and impending over the
seventh, which is transversely gibbous, then depressed, and with an
obtuse process at its extremity.
NATIVE SPECIES.
1. _cærulea_, Villers, ♂ ♀. 2-3 lines. (Plate VII. fig. 3 ♂ ♀.)
_cyanea_, Kirby.
2. _albilabris_, Fabricius, ♂ ♀. 2½ lines.
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS.
This genus is named from the presence of a little horn between its
antennæ, _κερατίνη_, _a horn_. Some foreign entomologists, especially
Latreille and Le Pelletier de St. Fargeau, have considered it to be
parasitical, but that it is not so we have the authority of the Marquis
Spinola, of Genoa, confirmed by the testimony of Mr. Thwaites, a very
accurate observer, in the vicinity of Bristol, where the insect is not
at all uncommon, although extremely rare in most other parts, and
consequently usually a desideratum to cabinets, from its great beauty
both of form and colour, notwithstanding that it is so very small in
size. It has also been found in other localities, as at Birchwood, where
the late Mr. Bambridge used to take it, and as near London as Charlton,
at both which places I have no doubt it might frequently be found were
it carefully looked for, but the practised entomological eye is often
wanting to detect an insect unless it be conspicuously present. Its
usual nidus is a bramble or briar stick, from which it excavates the
pith, and this it has been frequently observed doing, and both sexes
have been repeatedly bred from such sticks. We have no notice of any
peculiarity in its mode of forming its cells, which may resemble that of
such wood-boring genera as _Chelostoma_ and _Heriades_, although its
structure would intimate a closer affinity to the habits of the exotic
genus _Xylocopa_; nor is there extant any account of the process or time
occupied in the development of its young. Spinola’s notion, from not
seeing the sufficiency of the hair upon the posterior tibiæ for the
purpose, assumed that the pollen was conveyed home on the forehead and
between the antennæ, he having caught an insect with some pollen
accidentally incrusted there in the insect’s honey-seeking excursion.
The hair upon these legs is very sparse, it is true, but then it is very
long, and the quantity of pollen required for the nurture of the larva
is evidently small, from its having been observed that the store upon
which the egg is deposited is semi-liquid, thus preponderating in the
admixture of honey.
That it has not been caught laden with pollen upon its legs has no
weight against the fact of its non-parasitism, for it is not always that
the excursions of bees are made for the purpose of collecting pollen.
Honey is as necessary to their economy—and in this case perhaps more
so—as pollen, and the only way to determine the fact of its carrying
pollen, corroboratively, would be when knowing that one of these bees
has visited a bramble stick—its presumptive nidus,—to watch the stick
very patiently for the insect’s return from every journey until it came
back laden; the presence of pollen upon its legs would surely be
indicated by the difference of its colour from the ordinary dark hue of
the little labourer.
We have already noticed bees with metallic hues among the _Halicti_, and
there are slight indications of it in some of the _Andrenæ_, for
instance, in the _A. cinerea_ and the _A. nigro-ænea_, etc., but in none
hitherto so absolutely is it exhibited as in this genus. The prevalent
colour of the bees, that is to say, the ground colour of the integument,
and not the fleeting one of the pubescence, is black or brown, but here
we have a positive metallic tinge, which we shall again come across in
many shades and hues in the genus _Osmia_.
A second species of the genus was brought from Devonshire by Dr. Leach,
and is in the collection of the British Museum, but no other specimens
of the same species have since been found.
The only flower which it has been noticed that they frequent is the
Viper’s Bugloss (_Echium vulgare_).
-------
Subsection 2. NUDIPEDES (naked-legged cuckoo-bees).
a. _With three submarginal cells to the wings._
Genus 14. NOMADA, _Fabricius_.
(Plates VIII., IX., X.)
_Gen. Char._: HEAD transverse; _ocelli_ in a triangle on the vertex;
_antennæ_ filiform, scarcely geniculated, the scape short, the basal
joint of the flagellum subglobose, the second joint clavate, the
remainder subequal; _face_ flat, or slightly concave, carinated
longitudinally in the centre between the insertion of the antennæ;
_clypeus_ subtriangular, convex, deflected at the lateral angles;
_labrum_ subcircular, very gibbous and protuberant; _mandibles_ acute or
subbidentate; _tongue_ long, acute; _paraglossæ_ about one-fourth its
length, acute; _labial palpi_ two-thirds the length of the tongue, the
two basal joints membranous, the basal one as long as the rest united,
and tapering to its extremity, the second joint less than half the
length of the first, and not wider at its base than the apex of the
first joint, and tapering like that to its end, where it is acute, the
third joint short, subclavate, and the terminal one-half the length of
the preceding, very slender and linear; _labium_ about one-half the
length of the tongue, and at its inosculation produced obtusely in the
centre; _maxillæ_ subhastate, about the length of the tongue; _maxillary
palpi_ six-jointed, the basal joint short, robust, subclavate, the
second the longest, and with the rest tapering in substance and
diminishing in length to the extremity, the terminal joint being very
little shorter than the preceding. THORAX ovate; _prothorax_
inconspicuous, or distinct and angulated laterally; _mesothorax_
glabrous, deeply punctulated; its _bosses_ conspicuous and prominent;
_scutellum_ divided into two very prominent tubercles; _post-scutellum_
linear, convex; _metathorax_ with a triangular space at its base, and
declining to the insertion of the abdomen; _wings_ with three
submarginal cells, and a fourth very slightly commenced, the first as
long as the two following, and each of which receives a recurrent
nervure about its centre; _legs_ subspinose externally on the tibiæ, and
not polliniferous; _claws_ of tarsi small and not bifid. ABDOMEN oval,
glabrous, shining; terminal segment triangular, with its sides ridged.
The MALE scarcely differs, excepting in sometimes being more profusely
adorned with colour, but this is not always the case, the female being
often the most ornate. There are very slight differences in the antennæ
in the sexes, which may be readily associated together.
NATIVE SPECIES.
§ _With filiform antennæ._
1. _sexfasciata_, Panzer, ♂ ♀. 5-6 lines. (Plate VIII. fig. 3 ♂ ♀.)
_Schæfferella_, Kirby.
_connexa_, Kirby.
2. _Goodemana_, Kirby, ♂ ♀. 4-5 lines. (Plate VIII. fig. 1 ♂ ♀.)
_? succincta_, Panzer.
3. _alternata_, Kirby, ♂ ♀. 4-5 lines.
_Marshamella_, Kirby.
4. _Lathburiana_, Kirby, ♂ ♀. 4-5½ lines. (Plate VIII.fig. 2 ♂ ♀.)
5. _varia_, Panzer, ♂ ♀. 4-4½ lines.
_varia_, Kirby.
_fucata_, Kirby.
6. _ruficornis_, Linnæus, ♂ ♀.
_ruficornis_, Kirby.
_leucophthalma_, Kirby.
_flava_, Kirby.
7. _lateralis_, Panzer, ♂ ♀. 4-4½ lines. (Plate X. fig. 3 ♂ ♀.)
8. _ochrostoma_, Kirby, ♂ ♀. 4-4½ lines. Hillana, Kirby.
9. _signata_, Jurine, ♂ ♀. 4-5 lines. (Plate IX. fig. 1 ♂ ♀.)
10. _borealis_, Zetterstedt, ♂ ♀. 3½-5 lines.
11. _lineola_, Panzer, ♂ ♀. 4-6 lines.
_cornigera_, Kirby.
_subcornuta_, Kirby.
_Capreæ_, Kirby.
_sexcincta_, Kirby.
12. _xanthosticta_, Kirby, ♂ ♀. 2-2¾ lines.
13. _flavoguttata_, Kirby, ♂ ♀. 2-3 lines. (Plate IX. fig. 3 ♂ ♀.)
14. _furva_, Panzer, ♂ ♀. 2-2½ lines.
_rufocincta_, Kirby.
_Sheppardana_, Kirby.
_Dalii_, Curtis.
15. _Germanica_, Panzer, ♂ ♀. 4 lines.
_ferruginata_, Kirby.
16. _Fabriciana_, Linnæus, ♂ ♀. 3½-5 lines. (Plate IX. fig. 2 ♂ ♀.)
_Fabriciella_, Kirby.
_quadrinotata_, Kirby.
17. _armata_, Schaeffer, ♂ ♀. 5-5½ lines.
_Kirbii_, Stephens.
§§ _With subclavate antennæ._
18. _Jacobeæ_, Panzer, ♂ ♀. 4-4½ lines. (Plate X. fig. 1 ♂ ♀.)
_Jacobeæ_, Kirby.
_flavopicta_, Kirby.
19. _Solidaginis_, Panzer, ♂ ♀. 3½-4 lines. (Plate X. fig. 2 ♂ ♀.)
_picta_, Kirby.
_rufopicta_, Kirby.
20. _Roberjeotiana_, Panzer, ♂ ♀. 3 lines.
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS.
This genus was named by Fabricius from the _Nomades_, a pastoral
Scythian tribe, in allusion to the assumed wandering habits of the
insects, and it is the fact indeed that they are usually found leisurely
hovering about hedge-rows, or the banks enclosing fields, or about the
metropolis or nidus of any bee upon which they are parasitical. They are
the gayest of all our bees, their colours being red or yellow intermixed
with black, in bands or spots; they are also very elegant in form, which
is after the type of that of the most normal _Andrenidæ_, and to which
they have a further affinity by the silence of their flight, and by
their parasitism upon many of the species of that subfamily. From their
very general resemblance to wasps in colour they are often mistaken for
wasps, and are popularly called wasp-bees, although they have none of
the virulence of that vindictive tribe, for although all the females are
armed with stings, they are not prompt in their use, or if roused to
defence the puncture is but slight. In addition to their prettiness of
colour and elegance of form, they have a further attraction in the
agreeable odours they emit, sometimes of a balmy or balsamical, and
sometimes of a mixed character, and often as sweet as the _pot-pourri_,
and occasionally pleasantly pungent. A fine string of specimens of the
several species is a great ornament to a collection, but to secure this
in its perfection some care is required in the mode of killing them.
Their colours are best permanently retained by suffocating them with
sulphur, which fixes the reds and yellows in all their natural and
living purity. My method was in my collecting excursions to convey with
me a large store of pill-boxes of various sizes, and as I captured
insects in my green gauze bag-net, I transferred them separately to
these boxes. When home again I lifted the lids slightly on one side and
placed as many as would readily go beneath a tumbler, and then fumigated
them with the sulphur. This is a better plan than killing them with
crushed laurel-leaves, for it leaves the limbs much longer flexible for
the purposes of setting, whereas the laurel has a tendency to make them
rigid, and this rigidity is extremely difficult to relax, whereas the
setting of those killed with sulphur, if they are kept in a cool place,
may be deferred for a few days, until leisure intervene to permit it,
and even then if they become stiffened they are readily relaxed for the
purpose.
A division might very consistently be established in the genus by the
separation of those which have subclavate antennæ, and the segments of
whose abdomen are slightly constricted; these also are more essentially
midsummer insects, and usually frequent the Ragwort. This is the only
genus of parasites amongst the true bees whose parasitism is directed
exclusively upwards in the scientific arrangement; the parasitism of all
the rest of the genera of _Nudipedes_ bears upon the genera below them
in the series. Some of the species of the _Nomadæ_ attack more than one
species or one genus, but the majority are strictly limited to but one
genus and one species. The genera obnoxious to this annoyance are
_Andrena_, _Halictus_, _Panurgus_, and _Eucera_; the latter two have but
one of these enemies each, the _Nomada Fabriciana_ infesting the
_Panurgus Banksianus_, and the _N. sexfasciata_ frequenting the _Eucera
longicornis_. Under _Panurgus_ I have alluded to the relative abundance
of the parasite at the metropolis of its sitos. As far as known, the
other species are thus distributed. Those frequenting several
indifferently are the _Nomada alternata_, _Lathburiana_, _succincta_,
and _ruficornis_, which are found to infest _Andrena Trimmerana_,
_tibialis_, _Afzeliella_, and _fulva_, without displaying any choice;
whereas others confine themselves to one sitos exclusively: thus _Nomada
ochrostoma_ limits itself to _Andrena labialis_; _N. Germanica_ to _A.
fulvescens_; _N. lateralis_ to _A. longipes_; _N. baccata_ to _A.
argentata_; _N. borealis_ to _A. Clarkella_; _N. Fabriciana_ to
_Panurgus Banksianus_; and _N. sexfasciata_ to _Eucera longicornis_.
Observation has not yet fully determined whither each species of
_Nomada_ conveys its parasitism; several infest the _Halicti_,
especially the smaller species; the association of these it is difficult
to determine; I have usually found several of the small _Halicti_
burrowing together in the vertical surface of an enclosure bank, and
several of the small _Nomada_ hovering cautiously opposite, now
alighting and entering a burrow, then retreating backwards and winging
off. I lost patience in endeavouring to combine the species by the aid
of blades of grass or slight straws thrust into the aperture, but the
crumbling nature of the soil frustrated my wishes, and I abandoned the
attempt. 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 undertaking, 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; _antennæ_ filiform, rather robust, and but
slightly geniculated, the scape not longer than the two following
joints, the second 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_ irregularly gibbous, obovate; _mandibles_
strongly bidentate; _tongue_ long, slightly expanding towards the middle
and thence tapering to the extremity, and with a central line;
_paraglossæ_ 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 as the third, and, like it, subclavate, both being
more robust than the second; _labium_ not half the length of the tongue,
and acutely triangular at its inosculation; _maxillæ_ subhastate, not
quite so long as the tongue; _maxillary palpi_ five-jointed, about
one-third the length of the maxillæ, the basal joint clavate, short, and
robust; the second elongate, subclavate, the remainder gradually but
slightly diminishing in substance and length, the terminal not so long
as the basal joint. THORAX very retuse, and its divisions scarcely
distinguishable; _scutellum_ bidentate; _metathorax_ abruptly truncated;
_wings_ with three closed submarginal cells, the second the smallest,
irregularly triangular, and receiving the first recurrent nervure just
beyond its centre, the third submarginal considerably larger than the
second, sublunulate, but angulated externally and receiving the second
recurrent nervure about its centre; the _legs_ robust and spinulose,
especially the tibiæ externally (where they are very convex) and the
femora beneath; the _claws_ short, strong and bifid. The ABDOMEN
conical, truncated, and retuse at its base, the apical segment with a
central triangular plate ridged laterally, and fimbriated at its sides
with strong setæ.
The MALE scarcely differs in personal appearance, excepting that its
antennæ are more robust and its ornamental pubescence is more profuse,
its posterior tibiæ very robust and almost triangular, and the terminal
segment of its abdomen slightly emarginate and concave at its extremity.
NATIVE SPECIES.
1. punctata, Fabricius, ♂ ♀. 6 lines. (Plate XI. fig. 1 ♂ ♀.)
_? Atropos_, Newman.
_? Lachesis_, Newman.
2. _armata_, Panzer, ♂ ♀. 6-7 lines.
_punctata_, Kirby.
_? Tisiphone_, Newman.
_? Alecto_, Newman.
_? Clotho_, Newman.
_? Megæra_, Newman.
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS.
Named from _μέλι_, _honey_, _λέγω_, _I collect_; which is scarcely the
case, for the parasites, although they may indulge in the luxury of
honey as epicures, or resort to it as a repast, cannot be said to
collect it, for it is only the labouring bees that truly collect it for
the purpose of storing.
These insects are extremely handsome, their ground-colour being
intensely black, brightly shining on the abdomen, upon the segments of
which it is laterally ornamented with silvery pubescent tufts and spots;
the black legs are also variously ringed with similar silver down. The
great variation these spots and markings undergo—from what cause we know
not—has induced several entomologists to consider them as distinct
species. But the strongest varieties so rarely recur with identical
ornaments, and as almost all can be closely connected together in a
regular series by interlacing differences impossible to divide, it would
be certainly incorrect, without stronger characteristics, to raise such
fugitive variations to specific rank. Whether the curious spines of the
scutellum which they possess furnish a more certain character is
doubtful, for we find all such processes equally liable to variation in
size and form. What can be the uses of these spines? They can hardly be
for defence, although an entomologist has said that a male which he held
endeavoured to pinch by that means. We find similar processes in the
same situation in _Cœlioxys_, equally a parasitical genus; but the
former genus infests the _Scopulipedes_ and the latter the
_Dasygasters_, whose economies are so very different, and thus it can
hardly be supposed to have reference to habits. In _Epeolus_ and
_Stelis_ the same part is mucronated, a tendency to which we see in the
_Nomadæ_ with subclavate antennæ. Under _Anthophora_ I have given an
account of the pugnacious spirit of these insects in their contests with
the sitos, and it is necessary to be cautious in handling them, as they
sting very severely. Our two native species are parasitical upon the two
species of the first division of _Anthophora_,—those which are
gregarious. The circumstance of _Melecta_ being often caught with many
of the extremely young larvæ of _Meloë_ upon it seems to confirm the
fact of this coleopterous insect preying upon _Anthophora_, as it may be
thus assumed to prey simultaneously upon the larva of _Melecta_. I have
never captured these insects upon flowers, nor can I trace what flowers
they frequent, although Latreille tells us, in the name he has imposed,
that they are honey collectors; but Curtis reports that he has found the
genus upon the common furze or whin (_Ulex Europæus_).
-------
Genus 16. EPEOLUS, _Latreille_.
(Plate XI. fig. 2 ♂ ♀.)
APIS ** _b_, Kirby.
_Gen. Char._: BODY glabrous. HEAD transverse, vertex convex; _ocelli_
placed in a triangle on its summit; _antennæ_ short, linear, the joints
of the flagellum subequal; _face_ flat, carinated longitudinally in its
centre between the insertion of the antennæ; _clypeus_ transverse,
lunulate, convex, margined anteriorly; _labrum_ transversely ovate, with
a small process in the centre in front; _mandibles_ bidentate, the
internal tooth minute, the external robust and broad; _tongue_ rather
long, more than twice the length of the labium, tapering to its
extremity; _paraglossæ_ short, about one-fourth the length of the
tongue, broad at the base, and acuminate towards the apex; _labial
palpi_ more than half the length of the tongue, the basal joint longer
than the three following, membranous, and gradually decreasing to the
second, which is one-third the length of the first, and acute at its
apex, where the third subclavate joint is articulated, the terminal
joint considerably shorter than the third; _labium_ not more than
one-third the length of the tongue, and trifid at its inosculation, the
central division being hastate; _maxillæ_ subhastate, more than one-half
the length of the tongue; _maxillary palpi_ consisting of one robust
short conical joint inserted in a deep circular receptacle. THORAX
subglobose; _prothorax_ conspicuous, with its lateral angles slightly
prominent; _mesothorax_ with its bosses prominent; _wing_-scales large;
_scutellum_ transverse, gibbous, margined posteriorly, slightly
mucronated laterally, slightly depressed in the centre, and impending
over the _post-scutellum_, which is inapparent; _metathorax_ abruptly
truncated; _wings_ with three submarginal cells, and a fourth feebly
commenced, the first as long as the two following, the second
subtriangular, and receiving the first recurrent nervure about its
centre, and the third lunulate, and receiving the second recurrent
nervure also about the centre; _legs_ short, stout, the _tibiæ_ slightly
spinulose externally; _claws_ very small, short, robust and simple.
ABDOMEN obtusely conical, truncated at the base, its terminal segment
triangular, and the lateral margins slightly reflected.
The MALE scarcely differs, excepting in the usual male characteristics,
and that the apical segment of the abdomen is rounded and margined.
NATIVE SPECIES.
1. _variegatus_, Linnæus, ♂ ♀. 3-4 lines. (Plate XI. fig. 2 ♂ ♀.)
_variegatus_, Kirby.
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS.
It is difficult to assign a reason for the name of this genus, or to
trace an applicable derivation from _ἐπίαλος_, for the insect in no way
suits, either directly or by anti-phrase, any of the significations of
this word. It is one of the prettiest of our little bees, and is
parasitical upon the _Colletes Daviesiana_, and it may be found in
abundance wherever the metropolis of this species occurs. There is one
special locality near Bexley, in Kent, a vertical sandbank within a few
hundred yards of the village, where I have always found it in the spring
months, and have there taken it as numerously as I wished. I have
already alluded, in another part of this work, to the uniformly greater
beauty of the parasitical bees, to those which they infest, and their
exceedingly different appearance in every case excepting in that of the
genus _Apathus_. We might have expected that they would have been
disguised like these, the better to carry on their nefarious practices,
but what can well be more dissimilar than _Epeolus_ and _Colletes_, or
than _Nomada_ and all its supporters, and the same of _Melecta_,
_Cœlioxys_, and _Stelis_. These facts puzzle investigation for a reason;
nor will the perplexity be speedily solved. All that we can surmise is
that there must be a motive for it, for wherever we successfully elicit
her secret from the veiled goddess, we invariably find the reason
founded in profound wisdom. In some cases the mystery seems devised to
test our sagacity, but it cannot be so here, for the most palpable and
plausible cause that would suggest itself in the supposition of its
being for the guardianship and apprisal of the sitos is often
contravened, as in this instance, by it and its parasite living in great
harmony together, again by the desertion of its nidus by _Eucera_ in
favour of the parasite, although itself is a very much more powerful
insect; but in the cases of _Panurgus_, _Halictus_, and _Andrena_, they
all live well reconciled to the intrusion of the stranger’s young, and
this, without their enumeration, may be adopted as nearly the universal
case. The hostility of _Anthophora_, previously noticed, is an almost
insulated case of the contrary. The form of these insects does not
promise much activity, and we accordingly find that they are slow,
heavy, and indolent; yet they must be cautiously handled, for they sting
acutely; but indeed it is not well ever to handle insects whose
markings, as we find them in these, consist of a close nap, as
evanescent as the down upon a plum, and of course the fingers carry it
readily off, and disfigure the beauty of the little specimen. When their
special habitat is not known they may often be found upon the blossoming
Ragwort in the vicinity, or upon the Mouse-ear Hawkweed (_Hieracium
murorum_) within whose flowers they are frequently observed enjoying
their siesta.
-------
b. _With two submarginal cells._
Genus 17. STELIS, _Panzer_.
(Plate XI. fig. 3 ♂ ♀.)
APIS ** _c_, 1 _β_, Kirby.
_Gen. Char._: BODY glabrous, much punctured. HEAD transverse, curving
posteriorly to the thorax, where it is angulated laterally; _ocelli_ in
a triangle at the summit of the vertex; _antennæ_ short, slender,
filiform, scarcely geniculated, the scape about as long as the three
first joints of the flagellum, all the joints of which are subequal but
slightly increasing in length towards the apical one, which is a little
compressed laterally; _face_ entirely flat; _clypeus_ transverse, rather
convex; _labrum_ elongate, convex; _mandibles_ robust, tridentate, the
external tooth considerably the stoutest; _cibarial apparatus_ long,
tongue three times as long as the labium, slightly inflated in the
centre, and terminating in a small knob; _paraglossæ_ very short, not
more than one-sixth the length of the tongue and acuminate; _labial
palpi_ about two-thirds the length of the tongue, the two first joints
membranous, the basal one the most robust, and both tapering to an acute
apex, shortly before which the two very short subclavate terminal joints
articulate; _labium_ about one-third the length of the tongue, its
inosculation trifid, the central division considerably the longest and
truncated at its extremity; _maxillæ_ subhastate, nearly as long as the
tongue, acutely acuminated towards their apex; _maxillary palpi_ very
short, two-jointed, the basal joint subclavate and slightly the longest,
and inserted in a circular cavity, the terminal joint short ovate.
THORAX subglobose; _prothorax_ inconspicuous; _mesothorax_ very convex;
_scutellum_ lunulate, very gibbous, and impending over the
post-scutellum and metathorax, mucronated laterally; _metathorax_
abruptly truncated; _wings_ with two submarginal cells, and a third very
slightly commenced, the two subequal, the second being the largest and
receiving the first submarginal cell near its commencement and the
second at the inosculation of the terminal transverso-cubital nervure;
_legs_ short, moderately stout, the _tibiæ_ very slightly setose
externally; _claws_ short, bifid, the internal tooth near the external.
ABDOMEN oblong, truncated at its base, very convex above and flat
beneath, deflexed towards its extremity, and the terminal segment almost
rounded, being very slightly produced in the centre and margined.
The MALE scarcely differs, excepting in the usual male characteristics,
and by the apical segment being obsoletely tridentate.
NATIVE SPECIES.
1. _aterrima_, Panzer, ♂ ♀. 4-4½ lines.
_punctulatissima_, Kirby,
2. _phæoptera_, Kirby, ♂ ♀. 4-4½ lines. (Plate XI. fig. 3 ♂ ♀.)
3. _octomaculata_, Smith, ♂ ♀. 3 lines.
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS.
The name of this genus may be derived from _στελὶς_, _a sort of
parasitical plant_, perhaps _mistletoe_, if we could be sure that Panzer
imposed it after being aware of the parasitical nature of these bees. It
is true his book (the ‘Revision’) was published in 1805, and Kirby, who
first intimated a suspicion of such cuckoo-like habits in some of the
bees, published his in 1802; therefore it might have been given in
allusion to that peculiarity of their economy, but it may also be from
_στηλὶς_, _a little column_, in application to their cylindrical form.
In but few of the parasitical bees do we know the precise nature of
their transformations, I have therefore been obliged to be silent upon
this point of their natural history, and I have nothing to state of its
nature in these, although I expect there is much uniformity with but
slight modifications in all. The species of this genus are parasitical
upon the _Osmiæ_; thus the _S. phæoptera_ is found to infest the _O.
fulviventris_, and the _S. octomaculata_ intrudes itself into the nests
of _O. leucomelana_, both of which occur tolerably abundantly near
Bristol. I have no doubt that the south-west and west of England, if
well searched, would yield many choice insects.
It is singular that bee-parasitism does not prevail throughout all the
genera of bees, some being subject to it and others not. Thus the genera
_Colletes_, _Andrena_, _Halictus_, _Panurgus_, _Eucera_, _Anthophora_,
_Saropoda_, _Megachile_, _Osmia_, and _Bombus_ have all parasites,
whereas the genera _Cilissa_, _Macropis_, _Dasypoda_, _Ceratina_,
_Anthidium_, _Chelostoma_, _Heriades_, _Anthocopa_, and _Apis_ have
none, as far as we yet know; and some of the genera of parasites
frequent two or more genera indifferently, whilst others are restricted
to a single one; also some of the species of the parasitical genera
infest indifferently several of the species of the genus to which their
parasitism is mainly limited; other species have a more circumscribed
range and do not visit the nests of more than a single species. What law
may control all these seeming anomalies we cannot discover,—it may
possibly be scent that guides them, and this may control their
parasitism by indicating the species they are taught by their instinct
to be most suitable from the quality of the pollen with which it
supplies its own nest, to be that which is best adapted for the nurture
of their young. It is not likely that we shall very speedily lift the
veil from these mysteries, but they are suggestive of observation which
in seeking one thing may fall upon another equally interesting.
I have usually caught these insects settled upon the leaves of shrubs,
especially of fruit bushes, particularly that of the black currant, upon
which, in a favourable locality, many bees, as well as numerous small
fossorial _Hymenoptera_ may be found in genial weather. I have never
caught them upon flowers, nor do I know what flowers they frequent. The
end of May, if warm, and throughout June, they are usually found most
abundantly.
-------
Genus 18. CŒLIOXYS, _Latreille_.
(Plate XII. fig. 1 ♂ ♀.)
APIS ** _c_ 1 _α_, _Kirby_.
_Gen. Char._: BODY subglabrous. HEAD transverse, concave posteriorly to
fit the anterior portion of the thorax; _ocelli_ in a triangle on the
vertex; _antennæ_ filiform, short, subgeniculated, the basal joint of
the flagellum globose, the second subclavate, and all from the second
subequal, the terminal joint compressed laterally; _face_ flat, very
pubescent; _clypeus_ ovate, concavely truncated in front, its surface
convex; _labrum_ oblong, with its sides parallel, but with lateral
processes at its articulation; _mandibles_ broad, quadridentate;
_cibarial apparatus_ long, the _tongue_ very long, nearly three times
the length of the labium, linear but slightly inflated in the centre,
and thence tapering to its extremity, and slightly covered with a very
short down; _paraglossæ_ wholly wanting; _labial palpi_ membranous, the
two first joints long, the second slightly the longest, and both
tapering to the extremity of the second, which is acute, and has the
third joint, which is very short and subclavate, articulated before the
extremity, with the terminal one of equal length, and rounded at the
apex, appended to it; _labium_ about one-third the length of the tongue,
its inosculation trifid and equal, and the central division acute;
_maxillæ_ subhastate and acuminate, not quite so long as the tongue;
_maxillary palpi_ very short, three-jointed, the basal joint the
smallest, the second the most robust, and the terminal one ovate. THORAX
subglobose; _prothorax_ inconspicuous; _mesothorax_ convex;
_wing-scales_ large; _scutellum_ produced horizontally, and impending
over the post-scutellum and metathorax, and having at each lateral
extremity an acute, slightly-curved tooth projecting backwards;
_metathorax_ abruptly truncated; _wings_ with two submarginal cells and
a third commenced, the first slightly the longest, the second receiving
both the recurrent nervures, the first near its commencement, and the
second close to its termination; _legs_ slender, spinulose externally on
the tibiæ; _claws_ rather long, slender, and simple. ABDOMEN very
conical, truncated at the base, its segments slightly constricted, the
apical one long, superficially carinated longitudinally in the centre,
and much deflexed.
The MALE scarcely differs, excepting that the whole of the front of the
head is more densely pubescent; the mandibles are deeply, acutely, and
nearly equally tridentate, the terminal segment of the abdomen is
variously mucronated or toothed at its apex, these processes pointing
backwards, and the penultimate segment is more or less produced
laterally.
NATIVE SPECIES.
1. _conica_, Linnæus, ♂ ♀. 4-5 lines.
_quadridentata_, Linnæus, ♂.
_quadridentata_, Kirby, ♂.
2. _simplex_, Nyland, ♂ ♀. 5 lines.
_conica_, Kirby.
_conica_, Curtis, viii. 349.
_Sponsa_, Smith, ♂.
3. _umbrina_, Smith, ♂ ♀.
4. _rufescens_, St. Fargeau, ♂. 4-6 lines.
5. _vectis_, Curtis, ♂ ♀. 5-6 lines. (Plate XII. fig. 1 ♂ ♀)
6. _inermis_, Kirby.
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS.
This genus is named from _κοιλία_, _belly_, _ὀξὺς_, _acute_, in
application to the conical abdomen of the female. The insects of this
genus are parasitical upon the genera _Megachile_ and _Saropoda_. Thus,
_C. simplex_ infests _M. circumcincta_; _C. rufescens_, _M.
Willughbiella_; _C. vectis_, _M. maritima_; and _C. umbrina_ is
parasitical on _Saropoda bimaculata_. Linnæus, from the different
appearance of the two sexes made two species of them, and from the
circumstance of his having described first the male as _Apis
quadridentata_, this, by the law of priority, supersedes the name of _C.
conica_ as the name of the species, which is its female, and which he
next described, and thus that sex, whose form Latreille adopted as
typical of the genus, is in the series of species totally superseded and
reduced to a synonym. The species of this genus are extremely difficult
to separate from each other, no tangible character presenting itself
conspicuously, although the Swedish entomologist Nylander supposes he
has found one in the plates of the apical segment of the abdomen,
especially those of the venter, in which he detects both a difference of
form and a difference of relative length to that of the superior plates,
and in the males he assumes that the teeth of the apical segment are
constant characters. Not having had sufficient opportunity since this
supposed discovery was made, for the examination of a great multitude of
specimens, for it is only upon such an investigation that it can be
firmly based, I cannot speak corroboratively upon the point, but it is
very possibly a correct solution of the difficulty.
The peculiarity of these spines at the apical segments of the abdomen of
the males is remarkable, they being straight projecting processes, or
they have even a slight upward bearing. In the males of _Anthidium_ and
_Osmia_ we observe spines also arming the apex of the last segment, but
in these we can trace an evident use, both from the downward curvature
of the abdomen itself, and that same tendency also in the spines. But in
the insects of this genus they have not the same conspicuously apparent
object, the abdomen itself even having an upward curvature, or rather a
greater facility for turning upwards than downwards. These insects
appear to be most abundant in the midland and southern counties, and,
according to Curtis, they are numerously found at the back of the Isle
of Wight. I have usually taken them on the wing and never on a flower,
and I do not know the plants which they may prefer.
-------
Subsection 3. DASYGASTERS (convey pollen on the belly).
_All with two submarginal cells to the wings._
Genus 19. MEGACHILE, _Latreille_. (Leaf-cutters.)
APIS ** _c_ 2 _α_, Kirby.
(Plate XII. fig. 2 and 3 ♂♀.)
_Gen. Char._: HEAD as wide as the thorax, flat and broad on the
_vertex_, where, on the anterior edge, the _ocelli_ are disposed in a
triangle; _antennæ_ shortish, filiform, geniculated; _scape_ about as
long as two first joints of flagellum, which increases both in length of
joints and their substance from base to apex, the terminal one being the
longest, and longitudinally compressed; _face_ and clypeus very
pubescent, concealing their divisions; _clypeus_ transversely lunulate,
scarcely convex; _labrum_ longitudinally slightly convex and oblong,
with the sides parallel; _mandibles_ broad, widening outwardly,
irregularly quadridental, the two inner teeth obtuse; _cibarial
apparatus_ moderately long; _tongue_ more than twice the length of the
labium, tapering from the base to the apex, where it terminates in a
minute knob; _paraglossæ_ very short, scarcely one-sixth the length of
the tongue, coadunate at the base and acuminate at the apex, where, in
repose, they lap round the base of the tongue; _labial palpi_
three-fourths the length of the tongue, the two basal joints long,
subequal, membranous, linear, slightly tapering to the acute apex of the
second, where the third subclavate joint articulates just before its
termination, and conterminous with which is the fourth, shorter than the
third, but also subclavate; _labium_ not quite half the length of the
tongue, with a long subobtuse process in the centre of its inosculation;
_maxillæ_ subhastate, and very acuminate, nearly as long as the tongue;
_maxillary palpi_ very short, two-jointed, the basal joint the shortest,
and the terminal one obtuse at its apex, where it is furnished with
brief setæ. THORAX subglobose, pubescent, the pubescence almost
concealing its divisions; _prothorax_ inconspicuous; _mesothorax_
convex, subglabrous on the disk; _scutellum_, lunulate, convex;
_metathorax_ truncated; wings with two submarginal cells, the
commencement of a third slightly indicated, the two complete ones nearly
equal, the second of which receives both the recurrent nervures, one
towards each extremity; _legs_ robust, very setose; the posterior
_tibiæ_ slightly curved longitudinally, concavo-convex, broad at the
extremity; all the _plantæ_ as long as their tibiæ and as broad at the
base but decreasing at the apex to the width of the following tarsal
joints, the anterior pair fimbriated externally, and the posterior pair
clothed, on the inner surface, with a dense, short brush, the three
following joints short, subequal, the claw-joint as long as the three,
and the _claws_ with a broad basal inner tooth. ABDOMEN ovate, with
parallel sides, convex above, truncated and concave at its base to fit
the metathorax, distended horizontally in length, or with an upward
curve, the four first segments slightly constricted, and their edges
usually clothed with decumbent down; the terminal segment obtusely
pointed and slightly depressed transversely towards its extremity; the
_ventral segments_ commencing with the second, clothed with parallel
layers of moderately long, straight setæ, which in each parallel are of
equal length, but those on the fifth segment are the shortest, upon all
of which the insect conveys the pollen it collects.
The FEMALES of the second division of the genus scarcely differ.
The MALES of the first division differ in having the _head_ slightly
larger and squarer above; the _antennæ_ very slightly longer; the
_mandibles_ more acutely tridentate, with a distinct powerful basal
tooth beneath, terminating the concavity of the organ; the anterior
_femora_, _tibiæ_, and joints of their _tarsi_, excepting the terminal
one, concavo-convex, the four first joints of the latter distended
laterally, and edged with a dense fringe of setæ, the distension of
these joints is widest at their articulation with the tibiæ and they
decline in length to the claw-joint which is long; the _claws_ bifid;
the interior claw acute, but remote from the apical one; the posterior
_femora_ are very robust, their _tibiæ_, much curved, robust, almost
triangular, and externally very convex; their _plantæ_, almost glabrous,
not so long as the three following joints, externally rather twisted,
and beneath furnished with a dense brush of long stiff hair.
In the second division of the genus the males are destitute of the
distension of the anterior tarsi, these being instead densely fimbriated
externally; the legs in them are much less robust, and more closely
resemble those of their females.
NATIVE SPECIES.
§ _Anterior tarsi of males much dilated._
1. _Willughbiella_, Kirby, ♂♀. 5-7 lines.
2. _maritima_, Kirby, ♂♀. 6-7 lines. (Plate XII. fig. 2 ♂♀.)
3. _circumcincta_, Kirby, ♂♀. 4½-5½ lines.
§§ _Anterior tarsi of males not dilated._
1. _ligniseca_, Kirby, ♂♀. 5-7 lines.
2. _centuncularis_, Linnæus, ♂♀. 4-6 lines.
_centuncularis_, Kirby.
3. _argentata_, Fabricius, ♂♀. 3-4½ lines. (Plate XII. fig. 3 ♂♀.)
_Leachella_, Kirby.
_Leachella_, Curtis.
4. _odontura_, Smith, ♂. 4½ lines.
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS.
Named from the great development of the labrum, _μέγα_ _large_, _χεῖλος_
_lip_, which is characteristic of all the _Dasygasters_, and also of
some of the proximate _Nudipedes_, those parasitical upon them, _Stelis_
and _Cœlioxys_, and which, too, resemble the sitos in the expansion and
dentated formation of their mandibles, although they do not use them for
the same purposes; this again exhibits an analogy of structure, that
appears in the parasite to be merely corroborative of identity of
existence.
These are more essentially summer insects than the majority of the
preceding genera, although some of them present themselves with genial
spring weather. The genus may be separated into two distinct divisions
by the peculiar dilatation of the tarsi of the males of some of the
species, but such division is not indicative of a difference of habits,
as is distinctly the case in the genus _Anthophora_, and in which these
combined circumstances Mr. Kirby suggested as acceptable for generic
division, or, as he called it, the institution of another _family_. But
in these we find in both divisions both wood-borers and earth-tunnelers,
and some species are indifferently either as suits their accidental
convenience. The general appearance of the insects is more that of
ordinary bees, and the sexes are more approximate in their habit than is
usually the case.
With this genus commences essentially those designated as artisan bees,
although _Colletes_ might very suitably come under that denomination.
The species themselves of the genus are called leaf-cutters, from the
habit they have of cutting pieces from the leaves of various shrubs and
trees, for the purpose of lining their nests. The description of the
operations of one species will apply precisely to that carried on by
all, the occasional difference between them being the selection of the
leaves of distinct plants; and it will exhibit the patient industry and
perseverance with which these little upholsterers carry on their
labours.
Thus _M. centuncularis_, the type of the genus, burrows in decaying wood
or in brick walls, and sometimes also in the ground, and makes use of
the cuttings of rose leaves,—not the petals,—and the leaves of the
annual and perennial Mercury (_Mercurialis annua_ and _M. perennis_).
The _M. ligniseca_ bores into sound Oak and the Mountain Ash, as well as
into putrescent Elm, and uses Elm leaves to line its nests, sometimes
called _centunculi_ from their being as it were patched together. This
is the largest of all our species, and is found very abundantly
everywhere around London frequenting the flowers of the Thistle. The _M.
argentata_, Fab., or _Leachella_ of Kirby, is perhaps the prettiest of
all the species, and forms its tunnels in sandbanks. I do not know what
leaves this species selects, which used to be extremely rare, indeed for
a long time only known by the specimen in the British Museum, until that
ardent entomologist the Rev. F. W. Hope, to whom the University of
Oxford owes its superb entomological collection, brought it in abundance
from Southend, where, during his brief annual stay at his residence
there, he used to find it in the grove which runs under the cliff edging
the terrace of the village; it is extremely local, as that and
Weybridge, in Surrey, are the only two spots where I have known it to be
found. It is one of the most vivid fliers among the bees, and darts
about, especially during brilliant sunshine in June, with the velocity
of a sand-martin, and its note is shrill, but harmonious; it is not
often caught upon flowers, being so extremely alert, but has been seen
to visit the common Viper’s Bugloss (_Echium vulgare_). The _M.
odontura_, the last of the second division, which is known only in a
single male specimen in the cabinets of the British Museum, is one of
Dr. Leach’s west country captures, of which nothing precise is known,
and it is only noticed here on account of the singular peculiarity of
the armature of the apex of its abdomen, which brings it closer to the
genus _Osmia_ in that particular, although the majority of the males of
the genus have the terminal segment slightly furcated.
In these observations I have commenced with the division which contains
the type, and to which the present name of the genus would attach from
that circumstance, were it ever thought desirable to separate those
species, which have dilated anterior tarsi in the males, into a distinct
genus, but which I could scarcely recommend. In the arrangement of the
species in the preceding list, I have placed these latter first, from
their more symmetrical appearance in the cabinet, by leading down to the
terminal smaller species in due order, from these larger and more
conspicuous ones.
The _M. Willughbiella_ and _maritima_ prefer decaying wood, and they
have been found upon decaying Willows in the Midland Counties in extreme
abundance; they might be called gregarious were the material within
which they burrow connected in a continuous plane. The _M.
Willughbiella_ makes use of the leaves of the Rose and of the Laburnum,
but the _M. maritima_ seems to prefer the leaves of the Sallow. The _M.
circumcincta_ invariably burrows in banks, confirming the
semi-gregarious habits of the genus, where it forms large colonies, and
it is only by accident that it constructs secluded and solitary nests;
it also makes use of rose leaves for lining its apartments. The insects
are subject to the molestation of bee-parasites of the genus _Cœlioxys_,
the _C. quadridentata_ having been bred from the cells of this latter
species,—that parasite also frequenting the _M. Willughbiella_, and the
_C. vectis_ is well known to infest the _M. maritima_. Thus, it appears
to be only the species of this division with the dilated tarsi that are
exposed to such incursions, there being no record of parasites
frequenting the division in which the males have simple anterior tarsi.
Besides this bee-parasite, they are also subject to the attacks of some
dipterous insect, whose larvæ destroy the larvæ of the _Megachile_. Much
difficulty exists in separating the females of some of the species from
each other; in others the specific character is sufficiently noticeable.
It is a singular concomitant that those males with the dilated anterior
tarsi have the apical joint of the flagellum of the antennæ considerably
compressed and also dilated laterally.
The proceedings of these bees are very curious. Although the tubes they
usually form are long, they are so constructed as not to branch far away
from the exterior of the material into which they bore,—sound or
putrescent wood or earth, or old mortar joining the bricks of walls,—if
in the second material, they usually follow the putrescent vein, and
their tunnel in every case is rarely further than an inch or an inch and
a half from the external surface. Both the sides of the tube, and the
cells they form within them, will necessarily vary in diameter and
length with the size of the species, but in the larger species they are
about an inch and a quarter long and half an inch in diameter. Some
entomologists have surmised that different species use the leaves of
different plants for lining their cells; this, however, is not strictly
the case, as shown in the preceding remarks; but, although not so, the
series of nests in the same tube are always lined with cuttings from the
same plant; perhaps a varying caprice operates upon each day’s labours
and changes the plant, influenced by the drift of the wind or some
casual freak.
The cylindrical tube being prepared, which is done very similarly to the
way in which it is practised by all the labouring genera, by the gradual
removal of the particles of the wood, or sand, or earth of which it
consists, the insect’s instinct prompts it to fly forth to obtain the
requisite lining, that the lateral earth may not fall in, or the wood
taint the store to be accumulated for the young, for it is before this
is done that the upholstery is commenced. Having fixed upon the
preferred plant, Rose-bush or Laburnum or Sallow, or whatever it may be,
it alights upon the leaf, and fixing itself upon the edge, it holds it
with three legs on each side, then using its mandibles as the cutter of
silhouettes would his scissors, and, just as rapidly as he cuts out a
profile, does this ingenious little creature ply the tools it is
furnished with by nature. The oval or semicircular cutting being thus
speedily dispatched, with the legs still clinging to the surfaces, the
insect biting its way backwards, the piece cut off necessarily remains
within the clutch of the legs, and, when about falling, the rejoicing
labourer expands her wings and flies off with it with a hum of
delightful triumph, the cutting being carried perpendicularly to her
body. In a direct line she wings her way to the receptacle, and arrived
at the mouth of the aperture within which she has to convey it, she
rolls it to its requisite tubular form and thrusts it forward to the
bottom of the cavity. The first piece for the lining of each cell is
always oval and larger in proportion than the succeeding ones, which, to
the number of three or four, are semicircular, the first piece having an
extra use to serve in forming a concave bottom to the cavity. Having
completed the requisite manipulation, for adjusting it to shape the
external lining of the bottom and sides of the first cell, she withdraws
backwards, again flies off, and, as if she had traced a trail in the
air, or had marked its limpidity with a frothy surge, like that left in
the wake of a ship, to note the road for her return, back she wends to
the same plant, and proximately to the spot of her recent triumphant
exploit renews the operation, but the result of which, this time, is to
be semicircular. Home she flies again, and the arrangement within of
this piece is different to that of the first, for this is simply
tubular, and so placed that it imbricates with its cut margin within the
serrated edge of the first and the third, and in case of a fourth the
fourth also is similarly placed, so that one laps within the other, the
edges of two of these cuttings never being conterminous. The number of
the coatings is apparently regulated by the drier or moister condition
of the substance in which the tunnel is drilled. Another duty has now to
be performed, indeed, that for which all the preceding labours were
undertaken,—the provision for its young, wherein it perpetuates its
kind,—and thus on and on flows the wonderful stream of life, whose
origin who shall estimate through the millennia it has hitherto so
placidly and uniformly traversed, and whose termination who shall
predict? Having completed the requisite store of honey mixed with
pollen, this is carried to the brush with which the under side of the
abdomen is furnished, by means of the posterior legs. The honey and
pollen are gathered from different kinds of thistles, whence it acquires
a reddish hue and looks almost like conserve of roses, and the nest is
filled with it to within a line of its top; the egg is then deposited,
but the coating of leaves, which enclose the cell completely, secures
the store from lateral absorption, although the mixture is rather more
fluid, consisting of a relatively greater quantity of honey than is
usual, excepting perhaps in the case of _Ceratina_, and although no
viscous secretion is used to bind the leaves together, which retain
their position from merely lateral pressure. The cell has now to be
closed, and the artificer knowing that the transverse section of the
cylinder is circular, again flies forth, and without compass, but with
all the accuracy with which Leonardo da Vinci struck a circle with his
pencil, to testify his mastery, cuts the leaf again in that form, and as
surely: and, three or four, or five or six times, repeats this
operation, returning each time with each piece, so many having been
variously observed. The separation between the cells being thus
consolidated, it is further thickened by the lateral, spare, protruding
edge of the leaf first introduced lapping over it. The whole process is
again renewed in the same manner as at first, the bottom edge of the
cutting of the external leaf is again curved to form a concave bottom to
the next cell, and the sides are similarly formed, and each cell fits
the preceding like the top of one thimble placed in the mouth of
another. The repetition of all this is continued until the completion of
the five or six cells necessary to fill the tube, when another is formed
with the same routine, if her store of eggs is not exhausted; and the
orifice of the tube, upon the completion of the last cell, which is
closed in the usual way, is filled up with earth. Should any casualty
interfere with her labours or temporarily derange their utility, without
the obstruction being one that would permanently affect it, the
remarkable patience and rapidity with which the repairs are effected, or
the obstructions removed, is worthy of all admiration,—the _στοργὴ_, or
love of offspring, being the predominant passion which overthrows and
controls every difficulty.
When full fed, the larva spins a thick cocoon of silk, which is attached
to the sides of the cell; the outer coating of this cocoon is of a
coarser and browner silk than the interior, which is formed of very
delicate threads of a slaty-whitish colour and of a close texture, and
which is as lustrous as satin. The exact period of their evolution from
this state is not recorded, but it is probable that they pass the winter
enveloped in their cocoon as pupæ, and in their season come forth the
following year.
-------
Genus 20. ANTHIDIUM, _Fabricius_.
(Plate XIII. fig. 1 ♂♀.)
_Apis_ ** _c_ 2 _β_, Kirby.
_Gen. Char._: BODY subglabrous. HEAD transverse, as wide as the thorax;
_ocelli_ in a triangle on the vertex, which is flat; _antennæ_ shortish,
slender, filiform, subgeniculated; the _scape_ stouter than the
flagellum, subclavate, first joint of flagellum globose, the remainder
subequal; _face_ flat; _clypeus_ triangular, truncated at its base,
slightly rounded in front and convex; _labrum_ longitudinally oblong,
the sides parallel and concavo-convex; _mandibles_ dilated at the apex,
where they are quinque-dentate; the _alternate teeth_ smallest;
_cibarial apparatus_ long; _tongue_ very long, tapering to its
extremity; _paraglossæ_ very short, one-sixth the length of the tongue,
coadunate at the base and subhastate; _labial palpi_ more than half the
length of the tongue, the two first joints very long, the second the
longest, and both tapering to the acute extremity of this, where, just
before its apex, the third very short subclavate joint articulates with
the still shorter terminal joint conterminous with it; _labium_
one-third the length of the tongue, its inosculation with an acute
projection in the centre; _maxillæ_ as long as the tongue, subhastate
and acuminate; _maxillary palpi_ springing from a deep sinus at its
base, very short, two-jointed, the basal joint the shortest, and the
second obtuse one terminating with a few rigid setæ. THORAX subglobose;
_prothorax_ inconspicuous; _mesathorax_ slightly convex, wing-scales
large; _scutellum_ lunulate, projecting and impending over the
metathorax, which is truncated; _wings_ with two submarginal cells, and
a third indistinctly commenced, the second slightly the longest, and
receiving the two recurrent nervures one at each extremity; _legs_
moderate, subsetose, the tibiæ fimbriated along the edges, the anterior
_spurs_ slightly palmated; the _plantæ_ of the four anterior pairs
longer than their tibiæ, but those of the posterior not quite so long,
and all densely clothed all round with a brush of short close hair; the
_claws_ distinctly bifid. ABDOMEN semicircular, very convex; the base
truncated and hollowed to fit the metathorax; the _segments_ slightly
constricted, the _terminal segment_ transversely concave, and its apex
terminating in three slight angles; the _venter_, which is flat, is
densely clothed from the second segment with parallel layers of equal,
moderately long, shining hair, the segment being distinctly indicated by
these layers.
The MALE differs in being considerably larger; the _mandibles_ merely
tridentate; the _legs_ longer and more robust; the _tibiæ_ and _tarsi_
more densely fimbriated externally, and the tarsi relatively much
longer; the _abdomen_ densely edged laterally with short curled hair,
the terminal segment with three processes, the lateral ones strong and
curved internally, the central one shorter and straight, and the
penultimate segment transversely concave, with a strong tooth on each
side curved externally, and the venter glabrous beneath.
NATIVE SPECIES.
1. _manicatum_, Linnæus. 5-8 lines. (Plate XIII. fig. 1 ♂♀.)
_manicatum_, Kirby.
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS.
The generic name in this instance seems to be manufactured from the root
_ἄνθος_, _a flower_. I cannot trace any other derivation as it may not
be attributed merely to the habits of the species in frequenting
flowers, for is not this the prime function of all the bees, wherein
they fulfil a most important office in the economy of nature? How easy
might it have been to regulate that flowers should fertilize themselves,
as many do without any extraneous intervention, but by this wise and
benevolent ordination a tribe of sensitive creatures is introduced to be
perpetuated by the perpetuation they supply to that which supports them,
and in this circle of reciprocal good offices lend an additional charm
to the genial seasons, by the animation which they give to the face of
nature, in embellishing the plants they visit with their vivacity and
music.
These bees are gay insects, for both sexes are richly spotted with
yellow, and they present the single instance which occurs amongst our
bees of the male being considerably the largest, and so boisterous is he
in his amours that he forcibly conveys his partner to the upper regions
of the air, where she is compelled to yield to his solicitations. His
whole structure is fully adapted to carry out this violent abduction, as
well in the length and power of his limbs as in the prehensile teeth
with which the apex of his abdomen is armed.
We have but one species of the genus, although the southern parts of the
Continent abound in them. The habits of ours differ very considerably
from those of the preceding genus. First, in the peculiarity just
described, and then in the formation of their nests. They do not, like
the majority of the wild bees, excavate or bore a cavity for themselves,
but take one already formed by the xylophagous larva of some
considerable insect, such as _Cerambyx moschatus_, or _Cossus
ligniperda_. This they line, to the depth suitable to them, with cottony
down which they scrape from the leaves or stalk of the Woolly
Hedge-nettle (_Stachys Germanica_), the Wild Lychnis (_Agrostemma_), and
other woolly-leaved plants. In collecting this wool the insect is very
active, scraping it off rapidly with its broad mandibles, and as this is
doing she gradually rolls it up into a little ball, making with the
vibration of her wings a considerable hum all the time she is gathering
it, and when the ball is sufficiently large she flies off with it to her
nidus; this operation she continues until sufficient is accumulated for
her purpose, which consists in lining the cavity with the material; she
then forms cells within it in succession, gluing the same material
together to resist the escape of the mixed store of pollen and honey she
intends to fill it with, having in the operation smoothed the sides of
the cell which is closed after the deposit of the egg, and another
similar cell is then proceeded with, and this is repeated until the
selected cavity is filled, or that she has exhausted her store. Having
completed her labours, she wanders away. Sometimes the cavity is large
and admits of the conjunction of many of these cells together; in that
case they are all collectively covered with the same envelope of downy
substance. The larva, having consumed its entire store of food, spins a
cocoon of brown silk wherein it remains throughout the winter, and with
the evolution of spring, feeling its propulsive energy, it changes into
the pupa. In June and July, but earlier if the weather be continuously
warm, the imago comes forth in its maturity, to live its little life of
labour intermingled with pleasure, and in its pleasing hum to give
cheerful notification of its perfect satisfaction.
-------
Genus 21. CHELOSTOMA, _Latreille_.
(Plate XIII. fig. 2, ♂♀.)
APIS ** _c_ 2 _γ_ partly, Kirby.
_Gen. Char._: BODY nearly glabrous and coarsely punctured. HEAD
subglobose, rather wider than the thorax; _ocelli_ in a triangle in the
centre of the vertex, which is broad and slightly convex; _antennæ_
short, subclavate, geniculated, the scape nearly one-half the length of
the flagellum and more robust; the first and second joint of the
flagellum subclavate, the basal one the longest and most robust, the
remainder short, subequal, and gradually enlarging to the apical one,
which is obtuse and as long as the basal joint; _face_ flat, slightly
convex between the insertion of the antennæ; _cheeks_ large and
protuberant; _clypeus_ concave, projecting, lobated in front, where it
is slightly emarginate in the centre; _labrum_ elongate at its
articulation, broader than beyond, and from this expansion immediately
and abruptly contracting, from the inner angles of the contraction
waving to about three-fourths its length, whence it is produced into an
equal truncated oblong; _mandibles_ bidentate, external tooth acute,
inner one obtuse; _cibarial apparatus_ long; the _tongue_ twice the
length of the labium, narrowest at its base and obtuse at the extremity,
and clothed with short setæ; _paraglossæ_ very short, coadunate at the
base and acuminate; _labial palpi_ two-thirds the length of the tongue,
with the three first joints membranous and flat, conterminous and
tapering to their extremity, the first joint about one-half the length
of the second, the third twice the length of the fourth, which is
clavate and articulated within the apex of the third; _maxillæ_
subhastate and acuminate, as long as the tongue; _maxillary palpi_ very
short, rather stout, the joints subequal and the terminal one acute.
THORAX oval, convex; _prothorax_ inconspicuous _wing-scales_ rather
large; _scutellum_ transversely quadrate, convex; _post-scutellum_
transverse, linear; _metathorax_ gradually declining, with a glabrous
triangular space at its base; _wings_ with two submarginal cells nearly
equal and a third commenced; the second receives both the recurrent
nervures, the first beyond its commencement and the second before its
termination; _legs_ shortish, subsetose, the anterior spurs short,
broad, and emarginate at the apex; the _posterior plantæ_ with a compact
dense brush within; _claw-joint_ long; _claws_ simple. ABDOMEN longer
than head and thorax, subclavate, convex above, retuse at the base, and
the apical segment obtuse at its extremity, the venter flat, its
segments clothed from the second with dense parallel brushes of longish
hair for the conveyance of pollen.
The MALE differs in having the _head_ less conspicuously globose; the
_cheeks_ less protuberant; the whole body more pilose, the anterior
_spurs_ robust, short, and abruptly obliquely truncated; the _antennæ_
slender, filiform, much longer than in the female, but not much longer
than the head, and from the fourth to the ninth joints serratulate
within, adapting it to a sharp curve; the _abdomen_ being equal,
cylindrical, retuse at its base, convex above, and flat on the venter,
where it has a longitudinal deeply concave mucro in the centre of the
second segment, which concavity runs along all the subsequent segments,
and it is densely pilose on the fourth; the terminal dorsal segment
being deeply emarginate in the centre and produced on each side into a
broad obtuse process; the _claws_ are more robust than in the female and
bidentate; the posterior pair being subclavate, and their single tooth
abruptly reflected.
NATIVE SPECIES.
1. _florisomne_, Linnæus, ♂♀. 3-5 lines. (Plate XIII. fig. 2 ♂♀.)
_maxillosa_, Linnæus.
_maxillosa_, Kirby.
2. _campanularum_, Kirby, ♂♀. 2-2½ lines.
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS.
These insects are named from _χηλὴ_, _a forceps_, and _στόμα_, _a
mouth_,—in allusion to the forcipate form of the mandibles, which are
strong, and cross each other in inaction.
They and the next genus are styled _carpenter bees_, but they are not
more consistently thus called than might be _Anthophora furcata_ and the
genus _Ceratina_; they, in fact, like the latter, just as often avail
themselves of an empty straw to form their cells in, or the cylinder
that has been drilled by some xylophagous beetle of their own size, as
they themselves drill into palings and solid wood for the purpose, but
when they do this, it is facilitated to them by their powerful mandibles
and their square and strong head. They are certainly very compactly
formed, their structure being indicative of great power, of course
relatively to their size. When they drill their cylinders themselves
they are extremely persevering in its execution, and in the process, the
material they extract, which is like fine sawdust, they withdraw from
the depth of the cavity by passing it beneath them, and pushing it out
at the orifice by means of their posterior legs and the apex of the
abdomen, for they are too long to be able to turn within the cavity they
have formed, its capacity not being sufficient to permit this, as it is
very little larger in diameter than themselves. I have repeatedly
watched them in these operations.
Having found or drilled a suitable cylindrical tube, they do nothing
further to it but collect a sufficient store of provender for the
nutriment of the young one, upon which they deposit the egg which is to
produce it. The insect then flies away to collect a small quantity of
clay intermingled with sand, and this they knead together by means of a
viscous secretion which they disgorge, and this forms a concrete that
hardens firmly and rapidly; to anticipate its rapid drying they speedily
fly back, carrying this small ball within their mandibles, and with it
they cover over the provision they have collected, and which, adhering
to the sides of the cavity, forms a firm and hard division, effectually
separating it from the next store of provision that is to be accumulated
for the supply of the larva that will be hatched from the egg that is to
be deposited, and the same process is repeated again and again until all
the eggs are laid. In their development, which takes place near
midsummer, the males precede the females by about ten days. They
associate sometimes in colonies, often using the tubes of the straw
thatch which covers cottages for their nidus.
These bees are subject to the parasitical intrusion of _Fœnus jaculator_
and _assectator_, which I have repeatedly caught at Battersea, hovering
opposite the cells of these insects bored in the shingles forming the
enclosure of an old garden outhouse. These parasites are themselves
peculiar creatures, forming a type distinct from the Ichneumons, and
belonging to the group _Aulacus_, upon which see my paper in the
‘Entomologist,’ June, 1841. In these insects, the abdomen springs from
immediately beneath the scutellum. _Chrysis cyanea_ and _ignita_ are
also bred at the expense of these bees, neither of the species of which
are uncommon; the smaller one, the _C. campanularum_, which is the
smallest of our true bees, excepting perhaps one or two of the _Nomadæ_,
I used to find in abundance upon the railings of the fields that skirt
Hampstead Heath, on the right-hand going from London, parallel with the
Vale of Health, and thence rising to the Holly enclosure of the Earl of
Mansfield’s mansion. This spot has been productive to me of many very
choice aculeate _Hymenoptera_, and supplied me with them in abundance at
a time when even the chief metropolitan collections were bare of them.
It has also furnished me with several very desirable _Diptera_ of
extremely rare genera. The male of the larger species of this genus
Linnæus called _florisomne_, from its habit of curling up its abdomen
and antennæ, and passing the night in flowers. Those which they chiefly
frequent are the species of Wallflower, and the _Campanula_, especially
the round-leaved Throatwort.
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Genus 22. HERIADES, _Spinola_.
(Plate XIII. fig. 3 ♂♀.)
APIS ** c 2 _γ_ partly, Kirby.
_Gen. Char._: BODY glabrous and much punctured. HEAD globose and curving
to the thorax posteriorly; _ocelli_ in a triangle far forward on the
vertex; _antennæ_ slightly subclavate, the scape not half so long as the
flagellum, the first joint of which is robust, subclavate, and twice the
length of the second, which, with the rest, are subequal, very slightly
lengthening to the terminal one, which is as long as the basal one and
laterally compressed; _face_ slightly convex, cheeks large and convex;
_clypeus_ lunulate, convex, and with two minute central teeth on its
front margin; _labrum_ longitudinally oblong, rather broadest at the
base and slightly waved laterally, concavo-convex and subemarginate at
the apex; _mandibles_ subequal, tridentate at the apex, and the central
tooth obtuse; _cibarial apparatus_ moderately long, _tongue_ twice the
length of the labium, with a small knob at its apex; _paraglossæ_ very
short, almost obsolete, coadunate at the base; _labial palpi_ two-thirds
the length of the tongue, the two first joints membranous and long, the
first one-third the length of the second, which tapers to its acute
extremity, before the end of which the two terminal, subclavate, very
short, subequal joints are inserted; _labium_ half the length of the
tongue, slightly produced in the centre of its inosculation; _maxillæ_
subhastate, two-thirds the length of the tongue; _maxillary palpi_
three-jointed, short, robust, equal, and collectively subfusiform, the
terminal one rather acute. THORAX globose; _prothorax_ inconspicuous;
_scutellum_ lunulate; _post-scutellum_ linear, transverse; _metathorax_
declining; _wings_ with two submarginal cells, and the commencement of a
third indicated, the second larger than the first, subtriangular, and
receiving both the recurrent nervures, one at each of its extremities;
_legs_ short, rather robust, subsetose and spinulose; _posterior tibiæ_
convex externally and with their plantæ rugose, the latter covered
beneath with a dense brush of short hair; _claws_ simple. ABDOMEN
cylindrical, convex above, retuse at the base, and the first and second
segments slightly constricted at their extremity, obtuse, and from the
end of the third segment sensibly declining to the apex; plane on the
venter, where, from the second segment, the plate of each, excepting the
glabrous terminal one, is covered with a dense brush of short hair for
the conveyance of pollen.
The MALE differs in the _antennæ_ being rather longer, more distinctly
filiform, the seventh segment of the _abdomen_ concealed under the
extremity of the sixth, and the _venter_ from the third segment
longitudinally deeply concave, the plate of the third itself covered
with hair; the _claws_ more robust and each equally bifid, not
bidentate.
NATIVE SPECIES.
1. _truncorum_, Linnæus, ♂♀. 3-3½ lines. (Plate XIII. fig. 3 ♂♀.)
_truncorum_, Kirby.
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS.
The names of insects are not always very aptly given, for the only
available derivation of this appears to be from _ἔπιον_, _wool_; in
allusion to the clothing of its venter; but, if so, it should be spelt
without the H, for the first letter is without an aspiration. The habits
of these closely resemble those of the preceding genus, to which they
have a great personal likeness, and therefore their natural history
would be but its reiteration. Our solitary species is a rare insect, but
I expect western England would produce it. It is like those of the
preceding genus, of a uniform black colour, punctured, but it
approximates more closely than they do to the type of form exhibited in
the genus _Osmia_. They visit the same flowers as the preceding genus.
-------
Genus 23. ANTHOCOPA, _St. Fargeau_.
(Plate XIV. fig. 2 ♂♀.)
_Gen. Char._: BODY glabrous, subpubescent, shining. HEAD subglobose, as
wide as the thorax; _ocelli_ placed in a slight curve on the summit of
the vertex; _antennæ_ short, geniculated, the _flagellum_ subclavate
seen in front, but seen from above, owing to the compression of the
terminal joint, subfusiform, the first joint of the flagellum globose,
rather robust, the second short, subclavate and subequal with the rest,
which increase gradually in length and substance to the terminal one,
which is the longest, and laterally compressed; _face_ flattish;
_clypeus_ subquadrate, very convex and very pubescent; “_labrum_ oblong,
quadrate; _mandibles_ strong, tridentate; _labium_ (tongue) long,
filiform; _labial palpi_ having the third joint articulated externally
on the outer side of the second; _maxillary palpi_ four-jointed.” THORAX
globose; _scutellum_ lunate; _post-scutellum_ transverse, linear;
_metathorax_ rounded; _wings_ with two submarginal cells and the
commencement of a third just indicated, the second very slightly larger
than the first, and receiving both the recurrent nervures, the first
just beyond its commencement and the second close to its termination;
_legs_ short, rather robust, subsetose; the _posterior tibiæ_ externally
convex and the _posterior plantæ_ with a dense, short brush beneath; the
_claws_ simple. ABDOMEN cylindrical, retuse at the base, convex above,
declining from the base of the fourth segment to the extremity, the
first and second segments very slightly constricted, the margin of the
posterior one, at the apex, slightly crenulated, the ventral segments
plane and from the second covered with a dense brush of parallel hair,
excepting the sixth, which is reflected laterally and longitudinally,
convex down the centre.
The MALE differs in having “the sixth segment of the _abdomen_
emarginate, and with a strong tooth on each side; the terminal segment
emarginate, thus producing two strong, lateral, obtuse teeth, the
ventral plates of these same segments emarginate at the extremity, and
the emargination fringed with hair; the claws bifid.”
NATIVE SPECIES.
1. _papaveris_, Latreille. (Plate XIV. fig. 2 ♂♀.)
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS.