British Bees / An Introduction into the Studies of the Natural History and Economy of the Bees Indigenous to the British Isles

by William Edward Shuckard

Melitta * a, Kirby.

Gen. Char.: Head transverse, flattish; ocelli in an open triangle on the vertex; antennæ not geniculated, but slightly curved, filiform, short; joints, excepting the basal or scape, which is as long as five of the rest and slightly curved, nearly equal; face beneath and within the insertion of the antennæ, slightly protuberant, laterally flat or concave; clypeus convex, margined anteriorly, entire; labrum transverse, slightly produced in the centre in front, and the process rounded; mandibles obtuse, subbidentate; cibarial apparatus short; tongue deeply emarginate and bilobate, the lobes fringed with short setæ; paraglossæ half the length of the tongue, abruptly terminating and lacerate, and setose at the apex; labial palpi much shorter than the paraglossæ, four-jointed, the joints equal and each subclavate; labium about the same length as the tongue, its inosculation acutely angulated; maxillæ broad, lanceolate, the length of the tongue; maxillary palpi six-jointed, not so long as the maxillæ, the two basal joints the longest, the rest equal, short, and subclavate, the apical one rounded. Thorax subquadrate, very pubescent, the prothorax inconspicuous; scutellum transversely triangular or semilunate, postscutellum lunulate; metathorax abruptly truncated, and densely pubescent, especially laterally, for the conveyance of pollen; wings with three submarginal cells and a fourth slightly commenced, the second and third each receiving about their centre a recurrent nervure; legs all pubescent, the anterior and intermediate on their external surface chiefly, their plantæ also setose; the posterior coxæ, trochanters, femora, and tibiæ very hirsute, especially beneath, their tarsi entirely setose; claws bifid. Abdomen truncated at the base, subconical with a downward bias, the segments with bands of closely decumbent nap, and the surface of all more or less deeply or delicately punctured; the basal segment in the centre, beneath, with a longitudinal tuft of long hair.

The MALE differs in having the mandibles more distinctly bidentate, and in being less densely pubescent, especially upon the legs. In general aspect it is very like its female.

Note. The genus Cilissa has, superficially observed, much of the habit of Colletes, particularly in the male of Cilissa tricincta.

NATIVE SPECIES.

1. succincta, Linnæus, ♂ ♀. 3½-5½ lines.

succincta, Kirby.

fodiens, Curtis.

2. fodiens, Kirby, ♂ ♀. 3½-4½ lines.

pallicincta, Kirby, ♀.