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 names of insects are not always very aptly given, for the only
available derivation of this appears to be from _ἔπιον_, _wool_; in
allusion to the clothing of its venter; but, if so, it should be spelt
without the H, for the first letter is without an aspiration. The habits
of these closely resemble those of the preceding genus, to which they
have a great personal likeness, and therefore their natural history
would be but its reiteration. Our solitary species is a rare insect, but
I expect western England would produce it. It is like those of the
preceding genus, of a uniform black colour, punctured, but it
approximates more closely than they do to the type of form exhibited in
the genus _Osmia_. They visit the same flowers as the preceding genus.
-------
Genus 23. ANTHOCOPA, _St. Fargeau_.
(Plate XIV. fig. 2 ♂♀.)
_Gen. Char._: BODY glabrous, subpubescent, shining. HEAD subglobose, as
wide as the thorax; _ocelli_ placed in a slight curve on the summit of
the vertex; _antennæ_ short, geniculated, the _flagellum_ subclavate
seen in front, but seen from above, owing to the compression of the
terminal joint, subfusiform, the first joint of the flagellum globose,
rather robust, the second short, subclavate and subequal with the rest,
which increase gradually in length and substance to the terminal one,
which is the longest, and laterally compressed; _face_ flattish;
_clypeus_ subquadrate, very convex and very pubescent; “_labrum_ oblong,
quadrate; _mandibles_ strong, tridentate; _labium_ (tongue) long,
filiform; _labial palpi_ having the third joint articulated externally
on the outer side of the second; _maxillary palpi_ four-jointed.” THORAX
globose; _scutellum_ lunate; _post-scutellum_ transverse, linear;
_metathorax_ rounded; _wings_ with two submarginal cells and the
commencement of a third just indicated, the second very slightly larger
than the first, and receiving both the recurrent nervures, the first
just beyond its commencement and the second close to its termination;
_legs_ short, rather robust, subsetose; the _posterior tibiæ_ externally
convex and the _posterior plantæ_ with a dense, short brush beneath; the
_claws_ simple. ABDOMEN cylindrical, retuse at the base, convex above,
declining from the base of the fourth segment to the extremity, the
first and second segments very slightly constricted, the margin of the
posterior one, at the apex, slightly crenulated, the ventral segments
plane and from the second covered with a dense brush of parallel hair,
excepting the sixth, which is reflected laterally and longitudinally,
convex down the centre.
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