  LESTES LUCRETIA.Plate XLVIII. fig. 1. Order: Neuroptera. Section: Subulicornes. Family: LibellulidÆ, Leach. Subfamily: Agrionides. Genus. Lestes, Leach. Libellula p. Drury, &c. Lestes Lucretia. Thorace fusco vittis pallidis, abdomine coeruleo longissimo; alis reticulatis nubil apicali. (Long. Corp. 6 unc. Expans. Alar. 5 unc.) Syn. Libellula Lucretia, Drury, App. vol. 2. Agrion linearis, Fabr. Ent. Syst. 2. 388. 5. Sulzer Hist. Ins. t. 24. fig. 1. Habitat: Cape of Good Hope, Dr. Fothergill (Drury). India, Dr. Fothergill (Fabricius). Eyes very large and globular, projecting as it were from the head, and placed at a distance from each other. AntennÆ rather long and distinct, resembling a small fibre issuing from a thick stalk. Ocelli distinct. Thorax probably dark blue when the insect was living, but being now faded, and appearing of a dead black, it is also striped with white on the sides. Wings reticulated and transparent, the superior being tipped with white, and the inferior having a small black streak on the anterior edges, near the tips. Abdomen uncommonly long, being five inches and a half, and of a dark shining mazarine blue. Legs remarkably short for the size of the insect. "In the 4th volume of Seba's Museum, Tab. 68, are two figures somewhat like this (being the only ones I ever saw in any author) but are entirely different; the extremities of all the wings being tipped with black, and the bodies consisting of many more articulations than this; the eyes also are not so large and globular, and the feet are shorter."—Drury. XYLOCOPA LATIPES.Plate XLVIII. fig. 2. Order: Hymenoptera. Section: Mellifera. Family: ApidÆ. Genus. Xylocopa, Fabr. Apis, Drury, Linn. Apis Latipes. Hirsuta atra, tarsis anticis explanatis flavis, intus ciliatis. (Magn. Bomb. terrestr. major.) Syn. Apis latipes, Drury, App. vol. 2. Fabr. Ent. Syst. 2. 314. 1. Syst. Piez. 337. 1. Habitat: The Island of Johanna, near Madagascar (Drury). China (Fabr.). Eyes large, having the ocelli placed between them, just above the antennÆ. AntennÆ jointed in the middle, i.e. at the end of the long basal joint, which is broad and flat at the tip. Tongue horny and thick at top, ending in a sharp point. Thorax shining and dark blue, covered on the front with black hairs. Abdomen dark blue, the sides being hairy. Wings dark blue and opake. Breast dark blue and hairy. Fore legs longer than the others, and very hairy, the femora and tibiÆ being black; the first articulation of the tarsi being composed of a thin horn-like substance of a light yellow colour, concave and hollow within, but flat on the top or upper part; from the hinder side or edge whereof proceed many long hairs of the same colour. According to Mr. Smeathman these bees are very injurious to wooden houses, the posts of which they bore and perforate in various directions, so as to weaken them very much. The holes they make are half an inch in diameter. Drury hazards the conjecture, that the curiously dilated anterior tarsi, and the long hairs with which it is furnished, appear to be useful to the creature for containing the substance of which these insects compose their nests. This, however, is but mere conjecture; since it is the males only which possess this curious construction; and this sex takes no share in the construction or provisioning of the nest in any species of bees with whose economy we are hitherto acquainted. There are certainly several distinct species confounded together under the common name of Xylocopa latipes. SYNAGRIS CORNUTA ?.Plate XLVIII. fig. 3. Order: Hymenoptera. Section: Diploptera. Family: VespidÆ, Leach. Genus. Synagris, Latr. Fabr. Vespa, Linn. Apis, Drury. Synagris Cornuta. Ferruginea, abdomine alisque nigris, mandibulis porrectis capite longioribus. ?. (Long. Corp. cum mand. 1 unc. 4½ lin.) Syn. Vespa cornuta, Linn. Syst. Nat. 1. 2. 951. 20. Fabr. Syst. Piez. 252. 1. Latr. Hist. Nat. 3. 360. (Synagris c.) Griffith Animal Kingdom, Insects, pl. 106. & 107. fig. 1. Drury, App. vol. 2. (Apis c.) Habitat: Africa (Fabr.). Anamaboe (Drury). Front of the head dark orange, the hinder part brown. AntennÆ dark orange brown, and about the length of the thorax; the basal joint elongated. Ocelli distinct. From the front of the head proceed two slender horns, about three-eighths of an inch in length, of a solid bony substance, bending at the extremities toward each other, which the insect can open and close together horizontally, and which are the mandibles greatly developed. The base of these horns extends downwards, and forms a kind of |
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