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 _Cilissa tricincta_ is perhaps most like the larger species of the
genus _Colletes_, both in markings and in the form of the body, but in
resemblance of form the second species participates. Although robust
insects, and as large as the larger _Andrenæ_, they are yet unprovided
with the same ample means for conveying pollen, being destitute of the
lock of hair upon the posterior trochanters and the sides of the
metathorax are less densely pubescent. The ground colour is brown. Their
economy is assumed to resemble that of _Andrena_, although it has not
been so closely investigated; for my own part I have never had the
opportunity of tracing it to its nidus, having always captured the
species upon flowers. They are fond of the trefoil (_Trifolium repens_),
and the _C. chrysura_ frequents the _Campanula rotundifolia_, as well as
the flowers of the throatwort (_Trachelium_). In their excursions they
are usually accompanied by their males. Both species are found in the
south and west of England.
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
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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