LIBRARY

712
COLLEGE ENTOMOLOGY
hatching and maturity begins at the bottom, the adults eating through the partition
immediately above and awaiting the emergence of the top and last member
in order to escape together with the mother which may await the young in
the space outside the cell. Some species utilize the burrows for another brood,
there being two life cycles a year. The adults of the later brood hibernate in
the cells and emerge the following spring. The members are beneficial pollinators
of plants. The family is a rather small though widely distributed one. The
most important genera are Ceratina
Latr. (Clavicera Latr.), Allodape
Latr., and Exoneura Smith.
Family BOMBIDJE 1 (Lepeletier
1836) Kirby 1837 (Bom/bi-dre,
from the Greek (:Jb,.,,f30s, a buzzing
or humming; referring to their
loud buzzing sounds in flight).
German, Hummeln. French,
Bourdons. HUmblebees, Bumblebees,
Carder Bees.
The bumblehees are among the
most interesting of all bees and, next
FIG. 259. A small carpenLer bee, Ceratin a to the honeybees, are perhaps best
(lcantha Provancher. (After Woodworth from known to the layman. Their indus-
Insects oj Western North America.) t . hId th f
ry IS p enomena, an . ey per orm
their tasks with the ardor and efficiency of well-trained artiSfllls. They are
medium-sized to large, 9-30 mm., robust, densely hairy, varicolored with
black, white, bright yellow, orange, or red pile. Head narrower than the
thorax. Eyes rather elongate. Ocelli nearly in a straight line on vertex.
Antennre geniculate and longer in the males. Tongue long and pubescent;
mandibles large, the apices rounded and notched. Legs slender in males and
stout in the females. In the females the hind tibire are wide and fiat, two"
spurred, smooth. The exterior is densely fringed with long hairs. The first
tarsal segment is oblong with a large apical tooth and its margins and inner
surface beset with short stiff hairs all of which are combined to form a large
corbicula or pollen basket. Wings long, with three subequal submarginal cells,
the second of which is characteristically curved and pointed basally. They are
social, living in large, well-organized colonies of three castes; sexually developed
females or queens which are very large; sexually abortive females or workers
which are variable in size and often quite small; and males which are intermediate
to the queens and workers.
The large fertilized queens hibernate in hollow trees, refuse, or in the ground,
1 The genus Bremus Panzer 1801 antedates Bombus Latr. 1802 and therefore has priority.
But because of the long use and extensive literature associated with. the latter name, the
International Commiasion on Zoiilogical Nomenclattlre has been petitioned to suppress the
IUI.1l}e Bremus Panzer and to retain Bomblls Latr. Should this petition be denied, Brem!ls and
13REMIDl.E must be used.