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
_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.
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