([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.