British Bees: An Introduction into the Studies of the Natural History and Economy of the Bees Indigenous to the British IslesShuckard, William Edward
Science
British Bees: An Introduction into the Studies of the Natural History and Economy of the Bees Indigenous to the British Isles
Shuckard, William Edward
Bees; Hymenoptera -- Great Britain
The tongues of the _Andrenidæ_ are always shorter, broader, and flatter
than those of the _Apidæ_, in which they are always long, cylindrical,
and tapering. In the first section of the _Andrenidæ_, the paraglossæ
are obtusely terminated at the apex, thence called lacerated, and where
they are fringed with brief bristles. The peculiar form of the tongue in
this section suggests its being separated into two subsections, that
organ being in the first subsection very broad and bilobated, which
gives those insects their position in the series by approximating them
to the preceding family of the _Diploptera_, or wasps, whose tongues
have the same bilobate form, but each lobe in them is furnished with a
gland. These tongues, in both cases of the wasps and these bees, may
conduce to the building or plastering habits of the insects. The form
may aid the wasp and the _Colletes_, the first in the moulding of its
hexagonal _papier-mâché_ cells, as it may the second in shaping and
embroidering the silk-lined abode of its embryonic progeny. Why
_Prosopis_ should have this organization is difficult to conceive,
unless it be from an analogy of structure incidentally previously
referred to, beyond which any special object has hitherto escaped
detection.
In the second section of the _Andrenidæ_, which have the paraglossæ
entire and terminating in a point, the tongues all also terminate
acutely with a lateral inclination inwards. In the lanceolate-tongued
tribe they bulge outwards laterally, although pointed at the apex.
All this subfamily of _Andrenidæ_, excepting only the two genera reputed
parasites, viz. _Prosopis_ and _Sphecodes_, are essentially
_Scopulipedes_, densely brush-legged, for the conveyance of pollen which
they vigorously collect; but from the brevity of their tongues they are
restricted to flowers with shallow petals and apparent nectaria, their
favourite plants being the abounding _Compositæ_ and _Umbelliferæ_, as
well as the _Rosaceæ_, whence they derive the agreeable odours which
many of them emit upon being captured.
Their peculiar mode of collecting is a further reason for bringing the
brush-legged _Apidæ_ collectively to the top of the normal bees, in
juxtaposition to the _Andrenidæ_, where the transition is made very
naturally from _Dasypoda_ to _Panurgus_.
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