Chapter XVII: Section 2: With entire paraglossæ

Subsection _c_. LINGUÆ ACUTÆ (acute tongues).
a. _With three submarginal cells to the wings._
Genus 6. HALICTUS, _Latreille_.
(Plate IV.)
MELITTA ** _b_, Kirby.

_Gen. Char._: HEAD transverse, flattish, scarcely so wide as the thorax; _ocelli_ in an open triangle on the vertex, which is flat; _antennæ_ short, filiform, geniculated, scape quite or more than half as long as the flagellum; _face_ flat, excepting in the centre just below the insertion of the antennæ, where it is protuberant; _clypeus_ transversely lunulate, very convex; _labrum_ subquadrate, very convex, with a central, linear, carinated appendage in front, nearly as long as the basal portion; _cibarial apparatus_ moderate; _tongue_ very acute and delicately fringed with short hair; _paraglossæ_ acute, about half the length of the tongue; _labial palpi_ not quite so long as the paraglossæ, the basal joint very long, the rest decreasing gradually in length; _labium_ about as long as the tongue, its inosculation emarginate; _maxillæ_ subhastate, rather longer than the tongue; _maxillary palpi_ filiform, the basal joint the shortest, second the longest, the rest decreasing in length. THORAX oval, usually pubescent, sometimes glabrous; _prothorax_ inconspicuous, as are the bosses of the mesothorax; _scutellum_ and _post-scutellum_ lunulate, the former convex; _metathorax_ gibbous or truncated, but laterally pubescent even in the glabrous species; _wings_ with three submarginal cells, and a fourth sometimes commenced, the second subquadrate and receiving the first recurrent nervure close to its extremity, the second being received beyond the centre of the third submarginal cell [a slightly different arrangement takes place in some of the species, which will be noticed subsequently]; the _legs_ all setose, but the setæ not very long, and the posterior _coxæ_ and _trochanters_ have long hair beneath; the _claws_ bifid. ABDOMEN ovate, the terminal segment with a longitudinal linear incision in its centre.

The MALES differ in having the antennæ as long or longer than the thorax; the _labrum_ transverse, linear, and the _abdomen_ usually elongate and cylindrical, and much longer than the head and thorax.

NATIVE SPECIES.

1. _xanthopus_, Kirby, ♂ ♀. 4-5 ½ lines. (Plate IV. fig. 1 ♂♀.)
_Lasioglossum tricingulum_, Curtis.
2. _quadricinctus_, Fabricius, ♂ ♀. 4-4½ lines.
_quadricinctus_, Kirby.
3. _rubicundus_, Christ. ♂ ♀. 4-5 lines.
_rubicundus_, Kirby.
4. _cylindricus_, Fabricius, ♂ ♀. 3-5 lines.
_malachura_, Kirby.
_fulvo-cincta_, Kirby.
_abdominalis_, Kirby.
5. _albipes_, Fabricius, ♂ ♀. 3-4 lines.
_albipes_, Kirby.
_obovata_, Kirby.
6. _lævigatus_, Kirby, ♂ ♀. 3-4½ lines.
_lugubris_, Kirby.
7. _leucozonius_, Schrank, ♂. 3-4½ lines.
_leucozonius_, Kirby.
8. _quadrinotatus_, Kirby, ♂ ♀. 2-3 lines.
9. _sexnotatus_, Kirby, ♂ ♀.
10. _lævis_, Kirby, ♀. 4 lines.
11. _fulvicornis_, Kirby, ♂. 4 lines.
12. _minutus_, Kirby, ♂ ♀. 2½-3½ lines.
13. _nitidiusculus_, Kirby, ♂ ♀. 2-3 lines.
14. _minutissimus_, Kirby, ♂ ♀. 1½-2½ lines. (Plate IV. fig. 3 ♂ ♀.)
15. _flavipes_, Kirby, ♂ ♀. 3-4 lines. (Plate IV. fig. 2 ♂ ♀.)
_seladonia_, Kirby.
16. _Smeathmanellus_, Kirby, ♂ ♀. 2½-3½ lines.
17. _æratus_, Kirby, ♂ ♀. 2½-3 lines.
18. _leucopus_, Kirby, ♂ ♀. 3-3½ lines.
19. _morio_, Kirby, ♂ ♀. 2-2½ lines.

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS.

This genus was named by Latreille from _ἁλίξω_, to _crowd_, or _collect together_, from the fact of their nidificating in numbers on the same spot.

The females closely resemble in form those of the genus _Andrena_, but 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.

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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.

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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.

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Subfamily 2. APIDÆ (Normal Bees), _Latreille_.
_Syn._ APIS, _Kirby_.
_Tongue always folded back in repose._
_Maxillary palpi varying in the number of the joints._