APIS LATIPES. Hirsuta atra, tarsis anticis explanatis flavis, intus
ciliatis. (Magn. Bomb. terrestr. major.)
SYN. Apis latipes, _Drury_, _App. vol._ 2. _Fabr. Ent. Syst._ 2. 314. 1.
_Syst. Piez._ 337. 1.
HABITAT: The Island of Johanna, near Madagascar (_Drury_). China
(_Fabr._).
Eyes large, having the ocelli placed between them, just above the
antennæ. Antennæ jointed in the middle, i.e. at the end of the long basal
joint, which is broad and flat at the tip. Tongue horny and thick at top,
ending in a sharp point. Thorax shining and dark blue, covered on the
front with black hairs. Abdomen dark blue, the sides being hairy. Wings
dark blue and opake. Breast dark blue and hairy. Fore legs longer than
the others, and very hairy, the femora and tibiæ being black; the first
articulation of the tarsi being composed of a thin horn-like substance of
a light yellow colour, concave and hollow within, but flat on the top or
upper part; from the hinder side or edge whereof proceed many long hairs
of the same colour.
According to Mr. Smeathman these bees are very injurious to wooden houses,
the posts of which they bore and perforate in various directions, so as to
weaken them very much. The holes they make are half an inch in diameter.
Drury hazards the conjecture, that the curiously dilated anterior tarsi,
and the long hairs with which it is furnished, appear to be useful to the
creature for containing the substance of which these insects compose their
nests. This, however, is but mere conjecture; since it is the males only
which possess this curious construction; and this sex takes no share in the
construction or provisioning of the nest in any species of bees with whose
economy we are hitherto acquainted. There are certainly several distinct
species confounded together under the common name of Xylocopa latipes.
SYNAGRIS CORNUTA [male].
Plate XLVIII. fig. 3.
ORDER: Hymenoptera. SECTION: Diploptera. FAMILY: Vespidæ, _Leach_.
GENUS. SYNAGRIS, _Latr. Fabr._ Vespa, _Linn._ Apis, _Drury_.
SYNAGRIS CORNUTA. Ferruginea, abdomine alisque nigris, mandibulis
porrectis capite longioribus. [male]. (Long. Corp. cum mand. 1 unc. 4½
lin.)
SYN. Vespa cornuta, _Linn. Syst. Nat._ 1. 2. 951. 20. _Fabr. Syst. Piez._
252. 1. _Latr. Hist. Nat._ 3. 360. (Synagris c.) _Griffith Animal
Kingdom, Insects_, _pl._ 106. _&_ 107. _fig._ 1. _Drury_, _App. vol._ 2.
(Apis c.)
HABITAT: Africa (_Fabr._). Anamaboe (_Drury_).
Front of the head dark orange, the hinder part brown. Antennæ dark orange
brown, and about the length of the thorax; the basal joint elongated.
Ocelli distinct. From the front of the head proceed two slender horns,
about three-eighths of an inch in length, of a solid bony substance,
bending at the extremities toward each other, which the insect can open
and close together horizontally, and which are the mandibles greatly
developed. The base of these horns extends downwards, and forms a kind of
{99}hollow beak, terminating in a point which encloses the tongue, and
serves as a guard or fence to secure it from external injuries. Thorax
and legs orange brown. Abdomen probably of a dark mazarine blue [?] when
the insect was living, but is now of a dead black. Wings brown, opake,
and shining.