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.