William Edward Shuckard

CHAPTER X. THE SCIENTIFIC ARRANGEMENT AND DESCRIPTION OF THE GENERA, WITH LISTS OF OUR NATIVE SPECIES AND AN ACCOUNT OF THE HABITS AND ECONOMY OF THE INSECTS, WITH INCIDENTAL OBSERVATIONS SUGGESTED BY THE SUBJECT.

I now proceed to the treatment and description of the genera severally, and the enumeration of the species in due scientific consecutive order.

The generic names adopted are those of the first describers of the genera; but the generic characters given by them could not be employed, they having been usually framed to suit special purposes.

All the generic characters introduced into this work are therefore quite original, and have been made from a very careful autoptical examination of the insects themselves.

The synonymy added to the lists of species is limited to the species described in Mr. Kirby’s work, where he is not the first describer, or to those of such other English works wherein the species may have been described in ignorance of its previous registration.

The observations appended, wherein the habits of the insects are described, will be found to embrace discursive subjects suggested by the matter in hand, and here a dry didactic style has been purposely avoided, as in the majority of cases they record the personal experiences or notions of and hints from an old practical entomologist.

Class INSECTA METABOLIA, Leach.

Order HYMENOPTERA, LinnÆus.

Division ACULEATA, Leach.

AntennÆ in male with 13 joints, in female with 12. Abdomen in male with 7 segments, in female with 6.

Family MELLICOLLIGERÆ (Honey collectors), Shuck.

Subfamily 1. Andrenides (Subnormal Bees), Leach.

Syn. Genus Melitta, Kirby.

The maxillary palpi always six-jointed.

Section 1. With lacerate paraglossÆ.

Subsection a. LinguÆ emarginatÆ (with emarginate tongues).

Syn. Obtusilingues, Westw.

Three submarginal cells to the wings.

Genus 1. Colletes, Latreille.

(Plate I. fig. 1. ? ?.)

Melitta * a, Kirby.

Gen. Char.: Head transverse, flattish; ocelli in an open triangle on the vertex; antennÆ not geniculated, but slightly curved, filiform, short; joints, excepting the basal or scape, which is as long as five of the rest and slightly curved, nearly equal; face beneath and within the insertion of the antennÆ, slightly protuberant, laterally flat or concave; clypeus convex, margined anteriorly, entire; labrum transverse, slightly produced in the centre in front, and the process rounded; mandibles obtuse, subbidentate; cibarial apparatus short; tongue deeply emarginate and bilobate, the lobes fringed with short setÆ; paraglossÆ half the length of the tongue, abruptly terminating and lacerate, and setose at the apex; labial palpi much shorter than the paraglossÆ, four-jointed, the joints equal and each subclavate; labium about the same length as the tongue, its inosculation acutely angulated; maxillÆ broad, lanceolate, the length of the tongue; maxillary palpi six-jointed, not so long as the maxillÆ, the two basal joints the longest, the rest equal, short, and subclavate, the apical one rounded. Thorax subquadrate, very pubescent, the prothorax inconspicuous; scutellum transversely triangular or semilunate, postscutellum lunulate; metathorax abruptly truncated, and densely pubescent, especially laterally, for the conveyance of pollen; wings with three submarginal cells and a fourth slightly commenced, the second and third each receiving about their centre a recurrent nervure; legs all pubescent, the anterior and intermediate on their external surface chiefly, their plantÆ also setose; the posterior coxÆ, trochanters, femora, and tibiÆ very hirsute, especially beneath, their tarsi entirely setose; claws bifid. Abdomen truncated at the base, subconical with a downward bias, the segments with bands of closely decumbent nap, and the surface of all more or less deeply or delicately punctured; the basal segment in the centre, beneath, with a longitudinal tuft of long hair.

The MALE differs in having the mandibles more distinctly bidentate, and in being less densely pubescent, especially upon the legs. In general aspect it is very like its female.

Note. The genus Cilissa has, superficially observed, much of the habit of Colletes, particularly in the male of Cilissa tricincta.

NATIVE SPECIES.

1. succincta, LinnÆus, ? ?. 3½-5½ lines.

succincta, Kirby.

fodiens, Curtis.

2. fodiens, Kirby, ? ?. 3½-4½ lines.

pallicincta, Kirby, ?.

3. marginata, Linn., ? ?. 3-4 lines.

4. Daviesiana, Kirby, ? ?. 3½-4½ lines.

(Plate I. fig. 1 ? ?.)

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS.

This genus is named from ?????t??, one that plasters, in allusion to the habits of the insects, which will be described below. The female insects themselves have, at the first glance, very much the appearance of the working honey-bee, but they are considerably smaller, and, upon a very slight inspection, they are found to be exceedingly distinct. The respective males of the species are conspicuously smaller than their females, but their specific characteristics are very much alike, and there is some difficulty in separating and determining the species. One strong peculiarity, marking all of them, is that the segments of the abdomen are banded with decumbent, hoary or whitish down, in both sexes, and the determination of the species lies chiefly in the variations of these bands, and in the almost entire absence or conspicuous presence of minute punctures covering the segments. The females are very active collectors of pollen, and return from their excursions to obtain it, very heavily laden to their nests. I am not sure that all the species are not gregarious, to use this term in an acceptation somewhat different from its usual application, for here, and whenever used in entomology, it is meant to signify that they burrow collectively in large communities, forming what is called their metropolis, although each bores its independent and separate tube, wherein to deposit its store of eggs. The males, neither in these insects nor throughout the whole family of the bees, participate at all in the labours required for the preservation and nurture of the progeny, a duty that wholly devolves upon the maternal solicitude of the female,—these males having fulfilled their mission, which is not perhaps restricted to their sexual instinct, but may also be conducive to the grand operation of the family in the economy of nature, viz. the fertilization of the flowering plants, flit from blossom to blossom, and thus convey about the impregnating dust. They may also be often seen basking in the sunshine upon the leaves of shrubs, and thence they become lost or dispersed or the prey of their many enemies,—birds or insects, which are always on the alert in search of ravin.

The aspect selected by the females for their burrows, varies according to the species. Some choose a northern, and others a southern aspect; thus, the C. succincta seems to prefer the former, and the C. fodiens the latter, as does also the C. Daviesana; and where they burrow they congregate in enormous multitudes. The mortar interstices of an old wall, or a vertical sand-rock, which, from exposure, is sufficiently softened for their purpose, are equally agreeable to them; nor have they any objection to clay banks.

In these localities each individual perforates a cylindrical cavity, slightly larger than itself, and which it excavates to a depth of from eight to ten inches, or even sometimes less. Now comes into operation the use of the peculiarly-formed tongue with which nature has furnished them, and described above in the generic character. These cells are occupied by a succession of six, or eight, or even sometimes no more than two, three, or four cartridge- or thimble-like cases, in each of which is deposited a single egg with a sufficiency, taught the creature by its instinct, of a mingled paste of honey and pollen, for the full nurture and development of the vermicle that will proceed from the egg upon its being hatched, and wherein this larva, having consumed its provender, becomes transformed into the pupa, and by the continuance of nature’s mysterious operations, it speedily changes into the perfect insect. But the beauty with which these little cells are formed transcends conception. Each consists of a succession of layers of a membrane more delicate than the thinnest goldbeater’s skin, and more lustrous than the most beautiful satin. In glitter it most resembles the trail left by the snail, and is evidently, from all experiments made, a secretion of the insect elaborated from some special food it consumes, and by means of its bilobated tongue, which it uses as a trowel, it plasters with it the sides and the bottom of the tube it has excavated to the extent necessary for one division. As this secretion dries rapidly to a membrane it is succeeded by others, to the number of three or four, which may be separated from each other by careful manipulation. It then stores this cell, deposits the egg, and proceeds to close it with a covercle of double the number of membranes with which the sides are furnished, and continues with another in a similar manner, until it has completed sufficient to fill the tubular cavity, which, after closing the last case similarly to the rest, it stops up the orifice with grains of sand or earth. The food stored up is subject to fermentation, but this does not appear to be prejudicial to the larva, which first consumes the liquid portion of the store and then drills into the centre of the more solid part, and continues enlarging this little cylinder until increasing in growth by its consumption, it itself fills the cavity, and thus supplies the lateral stay or prop which, by means of the stored provender, was previously prevented from falling in. It has not been ascertained what number of eggs each insect lays, or whether it bores more than one tube, but it is presumable that it may do so, and possibly thus, from the numbers annually produced, for there are two broods in the year, colonies are thrown off which gradually form another metropolis somewhere in the vicinity, although the majority continue to occupy the old habitat from year to year. But the number of these insects is kept within due limits by the individual abundance of the parasites that infest them, and by the unsparing and unflinching attacks of earwigs, which consume all before them,—perfect insect, larva, and provender. The two most conspicuous parasites they have, are the beautiful little bee, Epeolus variegatus, the young of which is sustained, as in all bee-parasitism, by consuming the food stored for the sustenance of the young of the Colletes; and the other is the little dipterous Miltogramma punctata, whose larva, evolved from the egg deposited in the cell, feeds upon the larva of the Colletes, or possibly upon that of the Epeolus, which otherwise would seem to have no check to its fertility, excepting that it may be subdued by the ForficulÆ.

These insects are to be found during the spring and summer months, and throughout the southern counties, although some species are extremely local. Some occur also in the north of England and in Ireland. I am not prepared to say what flowers they prefer, for I have never captured them on flowers, but they have been found frequenting the Ragwort, and Curtis took a species at Parley Heath, in Hampshire, on the Bluebell (Campanula glomerata). They form a remarkable instance of an artisan bee, but so only in its habits, amongst the Andrenides.

---

Two submarginal cells to the wings.

Genus 2. Prosopis, Fabricius.

(Plate I. fig. 2 ? ?.)

Melitta * b, Kirby.—HylÆus, Latreille.

Gen. Char.: Head transverse, flattish; ocelli in an open triangle on the vertex; antennÆ geniculated, the basal joint of the flagellum as long as the second, and both subclavate, the rest of the joints short and equal; face flat, slightly protuberant between the insertion of the antennÆ, and distinguished from the clypeus by a suture; clypeus transversely quadrate, slightly widening gradually to the apex, marginate; labrum transverse, obovate, fringed with setÆ; mandibles broad at apex, tridentate; cibarial apparatus short; tongue broad, subemarginate and fringed with short hair; paraglossÆ very slightly longer than the tongue, their apex broadly rounded and fringed with hair; labial palpi as long as the tongue, joints subequal, gradating in substance, subclavate; labium about as long as the tongue, pyramidal at its apical inosculation; maxillÆ about as long as the tongue, slightly lanceolate, fringed with short hair; maxillary palpi rather longer than the maxillÆ, with six joints, the basal joint robust and slightly constricted in the middle, the third joint linear and the longest, the remainder gradually decreasing in length and substance.

Thorax subquadrate; prothorax transverse, linear, angulated at the sides; mesothorax with its bosses protuberant; scutellum and post-scutellum semilunulate; metathorax abruptly truncate, and longitudinally carinated in the centre; wings with two submarginal cells, a third slightly indicated, the first recurrent nervure springing from the extreme apex of the first submarginal cell, closely to the first transverso-cubital nervure, and the second closely before the termination of the second submarginal cell; stigma of the wing large and distinct; legs wholly destitute of polliniferous hair, the terminal joint of the tarsus as long as the two preceding; claws bifid; Abdomen subtruncate at the base, subconical with a downward bias.

The MALE differs in having the mandibles distinctly bidentate, the external tooth acute; the antennÆ are very slightly longer and more curved, and their colouring is more intense and more widely distributed. These insects are glabrous, generally intensely black, dull on the head and thorax, but shining on the abdomen, and are more or less thickly punctured, and they are usually gaily marked with yellow, citron, or red, especially on the face, thorax, and legs.

NATIVE SPECIES.

1. annulatus, Fab., ? ?. 2½-3 lines.

annulatus, Kirby.

2. dilatata, Kirby, ?. 3 lines. (Plate I. fig. 2 ?.)

HylÆus dilatatus, Curtis.

3. annularis, Kirby, ? ?. 2½-3 lines.

4. hyalinata, Smith, ? ?. 2-3 lines.

5. signata, Panzer, ? ?. 3-3½ lines. (Plate I. fig. 2 ?.)

signata, Kirby.

6. cornuta, Kirby, ? ?. 3-3¼ lines.

7. varipes, Sm., ? ?. 1½ lines.

8. variegata, Fab., ? ?. 2-3 lines.

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS.

This genus is named from p??s?p??, apparently in allusion to its seemingly masked face, most of the species having yellow markings more or less conspicuous upon the face.

It is the least pubescent of any of the bees, even less so than those confirmed parasites, the genera Nomada and Stelis, thus further tending to corroborate its apparently parasitical habits, for none of the truly pollinigerous bees are so destitute of hair. The ground-colour of the species is intensely black, variously decorated on the face, thorax, and legs, with markings of different intensities of yellow; but one of our species, the P. variegata, is also gaily marked with red. Indeed exotic species, and especially those of warm climates, are often very gay insects.

They have usually been considered as parasitical insects, from their being unfurnished with the customary apparatus of hair upon the posterior legs, with which pollinigerous insects are generally so amply provided. In contradiction to their parasitism, it is asserted that they have been repeatedly bred from bramble sticks; this circumstance is no proof of the fact of their not being parasitical, for many bees, for instance Ceratina, Heriades, etc., nidificate in bramble sticks, and they may have superseded the nidificating bee by depositing their ova in the nests of the latter; although it certainly is a remarkable circumstance that some one of these bees has never escaped destruction in the several instances in which these have been thus bred. It is also said that their nests contain a semi-liquid honey. The fact of the larva of a wild bee being nurtured upon any other provender than a mixture of pollen and honey, does not elsewhere occur, and it would seem to contradict the function this family is ordained to exercise, by conveying pollen from flower to flower, and which besides, in every other case, constitutes the nutritive aliment of the larva. But then, again, the structure of its tongue, which resembles somewhat that of Colletes in lateral expansion, and with which it would be provided for some analogous purpose, seems to contradict parasitical habits, although St. Fargeau asserts that it is parasitical upon this genus, and if so, although it has not been observed in this country, the analogous structure of the tongue might be perhaps explained.

But notwithstanding this deficiency of positive characters, from the absence of pollinigerous organs, nature is not to be controlled by laws framed by us upon the imperfect induction of incomplete facts, for if it be incontestable that this genus is constructive and not parasitical, the riddle presented by this structure of its tongue is at once solved, for without any affinity beyond that single peculiarity with Colletes, it presents an anomaly of organization which cannot be accounted for but by its application to a use similar to what we find it applied in that extraordinary genus,—a use that could not be extant in a parasite. In Colletes it is the concomitant of as ample a power of collecting pollen as any that we find exhibited throughout the whole range of our native bees, but in Prosopis it is concurrent with a total deficiency of the ordinary apparatus employed for that purpose.

One of the species of this genus has been found near Bristol, with the indication of a Stylops having escaped from it, which is a further extension of the parasitism of that most extraordinary genus, but the Stylops frequenting it has not yet been discovered, which would doubtless present a new species, therefore an interesting addition to the series already known.

These insects are not at all uncommon in some of the species during the latter spring and summer months, and they frequent the several Resedas, being very fond of Mignonette. They are also found upon the Dracocephalum Moldavica, and occur not unfrequently upon the Onion, which in blossom is the resort of many interesting insects. The majority of them emit when captured, and if held within the fingers, a very pungent citron odour, exceedingly refreshing on a hot day, in intense sunshine. Some of the species are rare, especially those very highly coloured, as is also the P. dilatata, so named from the peculiar triangular expansion of the basal joint of the antennÆ, the female of which is not known or possibly has only been overlooked or not identified. The P. varipes and P. variegata, which are the most richly coloured, occur in the west of England, and in one, the P. cornuta, the clypeus is furnished with a tubercle.

---

Subsection b. LinguÆ lanceolatÆ (with lancet-shaped tongues).

Genus 3. Sphecodes, Latreille.

(Plate I. fig. 3 ??.)

Melitta ** a, Kirby.

Gen. Char.: Head transverse, linear, fully as wide as the thorax, flat, with a slightly convex tendency; ocelli in a triangle; antennÆ short, scarcely geniculated; face beneath the insertion of the antennÆ, protuberant; clypeus transverse, margined, convex; labrum transversely ovate, deeply emarginate, in the centre in front; mandibles bidentate, obtuse, the external tooth projecting much further than the second; tongue short, lanceolate, fringed with setÆ; paraglossÆ not so long as the tongue, abruptly terminated, and setose at the extremity; labial palpi not so long as the paraglossÆ; the joints comparatively elongate and slender, and decreasing towards the apex in length and substance; labium rather longer than the tongue, its inosculation straightly transverse; maxillÆ about the length of the tongue, broad and lanceolate; maxillary palpi six-jointed, the first joint shorter and less robust than the second, which is also shorter and less robust than the third, which is the longest and most robust of all, the terminal joints more slender, and declining gradually in length. Thorax ovate; prothorax linear, produced into a sharp tooth on each side; mesothorax with longitudinal lateral impressed lines; bosses acutely protuberant; scutellum quadrate; postscutellum inconspicuous; metathorax slightly gibbous; wings with three submarginal cells, and a fourth slightly commenced, the second narrow, forming a truncated triangle, and receiving the first recurrent nervure in its centre, the second recurrent nervure springing from just beyond the centre of the third submarginal cell; legs slightly but rigidly spinose and setose; claws bifid. Abdomen ovate.

The MALES differ, in having the antennÆ longer and sometimes moniliform, the lower part of the face and clypeus usually covered with a dense short silvery decumbent pubescence, and they have the metathorax truncated at its base; in other respects they greatly resemble their females.

The insects of this genus may be called glabrous, their pubescence being so slight and scattered, they usually shine brightly, and are more or less deeply punctured; and the abdomen is always partially or entirely of a bright ferruginous red, sometimes verging into fuscous or pitchy.

NATIVE SPECIES.

1. gibbus, LinnÆus, ??. 3-4½ lines. (Plate I. fig. 3 ??).

sphecoides, Kirby, ?.

monilicornis, Kirby, ?.

picea, Kirby, ?.

2. Geoffroyella, Kirby, ??. 1-3 lines.

divisa, Kirby, ?.

3. fuscipennis, Germar, ??. 4½-6 lines.

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS.

This genus is named from sf??, a wasp, from its apparent resemblance to some of the sand wasps.

They are not uncommon insects, and I have found them abundant in sandy spots sporting in the sunshine upon the bare ground, where they run about with great activity, the females chiefly, the males the while disporting themselves upon any flowers that may be adjacent, and they are especially fond of Ragwort. Their prevalent colours are black and red, the latter occurring only on the abdomen in different degrees of intensity and extension, sometimes occupying the whole of that division of the body, and sometimes limited to a band across it. Much difficulty attaches to the determination of the species from the characters which separate them being extremely obscure, for it is not safe to depend upon the differences of the arrangement of colour upon them, as it varies infinitely; nor can their relative sizes be depended upon as a clue, for in individuals which must be admitted to be of the same species, size takes a wider extent of difference than in almost any of the genera of bees. St. Fargeau, who maintains the parasitism of the genus, accounts for it by saying that in depositing their eggs in the nests of the AndrenÆ, Halicti, and Dasypoda, the Sphecodes resorts to the burrows of the species of these genera indifferent to their adaptation to its own size, and thus from the abundance or paucity of food so furnished to its larvÆ, does it become a large or a small individual. Westwood says the species are parasitical upon Halictus. Latreille says they are parasites. They are certainly just as destitute of the pollinigerous apparatus as the preceding genus. Mr. Thwaites once thought he had detected a good specific character in the differing lengths of the joints of the antennÆ, but I believe he never thoroughly satisfied himself of its being practically available. At all events great difficulty still attaches to their rigid and satisfactory determination. There is an array of entomologists who deny their being parasites. Mr. Kirby says they form their burrows in bare sections of sandbanks exposed to the sun, and nine or ten inches deep, and which they smooth with their tongues. But then, in impeachment of the accuracy of his observation, he further supposes there are three sexes, founding his statement upon what RÉaumur remarks of having observed pupÆ of three different sizes in the burrows. In the first place, it is not conclusive that these pupÆ were those of Sphecodes, and secondly we know that this condition of three sexes is found only in the social tribes, wherein the peculiarities of the economy exact a division of offices. Therefore his adoption of this inaccuracy militates against the reception of his other statement. But Smith also states that they are not parasites, and apparently founds his assertion upon direct observation. It still, however, remains a debatable point, from the fact of the destitution of pollinigerous brushes, and thence the character of the food necessary to be stored for the larva. It would be very satisfactory if these apparent inconsistencies could be lucidly explained.

If, however, it be ultimately proved that Sphecodes is a constructive bee, as well as Prosopis, we have then this fact exhibited by our native genera, that none of the subfamily of our short-tongued bees, or AndrenidÆ, are parasitical. This is a remarkable peculiarity, as it is amongst them that we should almost exclusively expect to find that distinguishing economy, from the seemingly imperfect apparatus furnished in the short structure of their tongues. It is possible, however, that nature has so moulded them as to fit them chiefly for fulfilling its objects within merely a certain range of the floral reign, and which restricts them to visiting flowers which do not require the protrusion of a long organ to rifle their sweet stores.

Genus 4. Andrena, Fabricius.

(Plates II. and III.)

Melitta ** c, Kirby.

Gen. Char.: Head transverse, as wide as the thorax; ocelli in a triangle on the vertex; antennÆ filiform, geniculated, the basal joint of the flagellum the longest; face flat; clypeus convex, transverse, quadrate, slightly rounded in front; labrum transverse, oblong; mandibles bidentate; tongue moderately long, lanceolate, fringed with fine hair; paraglossÆ half the length of the tongue, abruptly terminated and setose at the extremity; labium about half the length of the entire apparatus, its inosculation acute; labial palpi inserted above it, below the origin of the paraglossÆ in a sinus upon the sides of the tongue; maxillÆ irregularly lanceolate; maxillary palpi six-jointed, longer than the maxillÆ, the basal joint about as long as the fourth, but more robust, the second joint the longest, the rest declining in length and substance. Thorax ovate; prothorax not distinct; mesothorax quadrate; bosses protuberant; scutellum lunate; post-scutellum lunulate; metathorax gibbous, and pubescent laterally; wings with three submarginal cells, and a fourth slightly commenced, the second quadrate, and with the third receiving a recurrent nervure about their middle; legs densely pubescent, especially externally, and particularly the posterior pair, which have a long curled lock upon the trochanter beneath, the anterior upper surface of the femora clothed with long loose hair, which equally surrounds the whole of the tibiÆ, but which is less long upon their plantÆ, the claws strongly bifid. Abdomen ovate, a dense fringe edging the fifth segment, and the terminal segment having a triangular central plate, its sides rigidly setose.

The MALE differs in having the head rather wider than the thorax, the vertex where the ocelli are placed more protuberant, the mandibles very large and more acutely bidentate, sometimes largely forcipate and with but one acute tooth; the males in most species greatly differ from their females.

None of these insects exhibit any positive colouring of the integument, excepting in some upon the abdomen, which exhibits red bands, and is disposed to vary considerably in intensity and breadth, and in some the clypeus and face are of a cream-colour, but which occurs chiefly among the males. They are very dissimilar in general appearance, some being densely pubescent all over, others merely so on the head and thorax; others are banded with white decumbent down, and some are wholly unmarked upon the abdomen. These peculiarities help to group them, and thus facilitate their recognition.

NATIVE SPECIES.

§ Banded with red on the abdomen, the segments of which are more or less fringed.

1. Hattorfiana, Fab., ? ?. 6—7 lines.

Lathamana, Kirby, ?.

hÆmorrhoidalis, Kirby, ?.

2. zonalis, Kirby, ? ?. 4½-5 lines.

3. florea, Fabricius, ? ?. 5-6½ lines.

RosÆ, Kirby, var.

4. RosÆ, Panzer, ? ?. 4-6 lines. (Plate III. fig. 1 ? ?.)

RosÆ, Kirby, ?.

5. decorata, Smith, ? ?. 5-6½ lines.

6. Schrankella, Kirby, ? ?. 4-5 lines.

affinis, Kirby.

7. cingulata, Fabricius, ? ?. 3½-4 lines. (Plate III. fig. 3 ? ?.)

cingulata, Kirby.

§§ Abdominal segments edged with decumbent short down, or fringed with long hair.

8. longipes, Shuckard, ? ?. 4-6 lines. (Plate III. fig. 2 ? ?.)

9. chrysosceles, Kirby, ? ?. 3½-4½ lines.

10. dorsata, Kirby, ? ?. 4-4½ lines.

combinata, Kirby.

nudiuscula, Kirby.

11. connectens, Kirby. 5 lines.

12. Wilkella, Kirby, ?. 5¾ lines.

13. Coitana, Kirby, ? ?. 4 lines.

Shawella, Kirby.

14. labialis, Kirby, ? ?. 5½-6 lines.

15. Lewinella, ?. 3¾ lines.

16. xanthura, Kirby, ? ?. 3½-6 lines.

ovatula, Kirby.

17. Collinsonana, Kirby, ? ?. 3½-4½ lines.

digitalis, Kirby.

proxima, Kirby.

18. albicrus, Kirby, ? ?. 4-5½ lines.

barbilabris, Kirby.

19. minutula, Kirby, ? ?. 2½-3½ lines.

parvula, Kirby.

20. nana, Kirby, ?. 3½ lines.

21. convexiuscula, Kirby, ? ?. 5 lines.

22. Kirbyi, Curtis, ?. 6 lines.

23. fuscata, Kirby, ?. 4½ lines.

24. Afzeliella, Kirby, ? ?. 4½-5 lines.

25. fulvicrus, Kirby, ? ?. 3½-5¼ lines.

contigua, Kirby.

26. fulvago, Christ. ? ?. 4-4½ lines.

fulvago, Kirby.

27. tibialis, Kirby. 5-7¼ lines.

atriceps, Kirby.

28. Mouffetella, Kirby, ? ?. 5-7 lines.

29. nigro-Ænea, Kirby, ? ?. 5-6½ lines.

30. bimaculata, Kirby, ?. 5½ lines.

31. Trimmerana, Kirby, ? ?. 5-6 lines.

32. conjuncta, Smith, ?. 5½ lines.

33. varians, Rossi, ? ?. 4-5½ lines.

34. helvola, LinnÆus, ? ?. 5-5½ lines.

picipes, Kirby, ?.

angulosa, Kirby.

35. Gwynana, Kirby, ? ?. 4-5½ lines.

pilosula, Kirby.

36. angustior, Kirby, ? ?. 4-5 lines.

37. picicornis, Kirby, ? ?. 5-6 lines.

38. spinigera, Kirby, ? ?. 5-6 lines.

39. Smithella, Kirby, ? ?. 3-6 lines.

40. Lapponica, Zetterstedt, ? ?. 3½-5½ lines.

41. tridentata, Kirby, ?. 4½ lines.

42. denticulata, Kirby, ? ?. 4-5½ lines.

Listerella, Kirby.

43. nigriceps, Kirby, ?. 5 lines.

44. pubescens, Kirby, ? ?. 4-5 lines.

rufitarsis, Kirby.

fuscipes, Kirby.

§§§§ Thorax very pubescent, abdomen smooth and shining.

45. albicans, Kirby, ? ?. 4-5 lines.

46. pilipes, Fabricius, ? ?. 5-7 lines.

pratensis, Kirby.

47. cineraria, LinnÆus, ? ?. 5-7 lines. (Plate II. fig. 2 ? ?.)

cineraria, Kirby.

48. thoracica, Fabricius, ? ?. 5-7½ lines.

thoracica, Kirby.

melanocephala, Kirby.

49. nitida, Fourcroy, ? ?. 5-6½ lines. (Plate II. fig. 3 ? ?.)

nitida, Kirby.

50. vitrea, Smith, ?. 6½ lines.

§§§§ The entire body densely pubescent.

51. fulva, Schrank, ? ?. 4-6½ lines. (Plate II. fig. 1 ? ?.)

fulva, Kirby.

52. Clarkella, Kirby, ? ?. 4½-6½ lines.

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS.

Fabricius seems to have named this genus from a??????, a wasp, but why, it is impossible to say. Although one name is as good as another, it being indifferent what the name may be, yet where so evident an attempt to give a name pertinence is conspicuous, it is remarkable that it should be so little relevant, for none of the characteristics of a wasp or hornet are exhibited in these insects.

Possibly it was from the genus being the most numerous in species that Dr. Leach was induced to give this subfamily its collective designation, making the other genera thus converge to it as to a centre. He took its elliptical form as typical. Indeed, it is remarkable how very judiciously this was done, for it is a form not apparent among the normal bees excepting in two exceptional cases, the one upon the frontiers of this subfamily, in almost debatable land, where the last of the AndrenidÆ and the first of the ApidÆ seem almost to melt into one another; and in the other case, in the parasitical Nomada, whose parasitism is in every instance, but one only, restricted to the first subfamily. A different type of form prevails amongst the ApidÆ, upon which I shall have subsequently occasion to speak.

These insects are not distinguished for any elaborate economy. Varying in the species, some prefer vertical banks, others sloping undulations, and again others horizontal flat ground or hard down-trodden pathways. Some burrow singly, and others are gregarious, collected in great numbers upon one spot. They are, perhaps, the most inartificial burrowers of all the bees. Their tunnels vary from five to nine or ten inches in depth, and in some species they are formed with other small tunnels slanting off from the main cylinder. The sides and bottom are merely smoothed, without either drapery or polish. The little cells thus formed are then supplied with the usual mixture of pollen and honey kneaded together, which in the larger species forms a mass of about the size of a moderate red currant, its instinct teaching it the quantity necessary for the nurture of the young which shall proceed from the egg that it then deposits upon this collected mass of food. The aperture of each little tunnel is closed with particles of the earth or sand wherein the insect burrows, and it proceeds to the elaboration of another receptacle for a fresh brood until its stock of eggs becomes exhausted. Some species have two broods hatched in the year, especially the earlier ones,—for several present themselves with the earliest flowers,—but others are restricted to but one. The quantity of pollen they collect is considerable, and in fact they are supplied with an apparatus additional to what is furnished to any of the other genera in a curled rather long lock of hair that emanates from the posterior trochanters. This, with the fringes that edge the lower portion and sides of the metathorax, as well as the usual apparatus upon the posterior legs, enables the insect to carry in each flight home a comparatively large quantity of pollen, but perhaps scarcely enough at once for the nurture of one young one, and it therefore repeats the same operation until sufficient is accumulated.

The exact period occupied by their transformations is not strictly known; it will, of course, vary in the species, as also in those in which two broods succeed each other in the year, but the larva rapidly consumes its store and then undergoes its transformation. It does not spin a cocoon, but in its pupa state it is covered all over with a thin pellicle, which adheres closely to all the distinct parts of the body. It is not known how this is formed; perhaps it is a membrane which transudes in a secretion through the skin of the larva, or it may be this itself converted to its new use, which seems to be for the protection of all the parts of the now transmuting imago, until these in due course shall have acquired their proper consistency.

These insects in their perfect state vary very considerably in size, both individually and specifically, the former depending upon both the quantity and quality of the food stored up, for the pollen of different plants varies possibly in its amount of nutriment, else why should we observe so marked a difference in the sizes of individuals whose parent instinct would prompt to furnish them with an uniform and equal supply. The differences of specific appearance is often very considerable in long genera, and perhaps in no genus is it more conspicuously so than in Andrena, for here we have some wholly covered with dense hair, and others almost glabrous; others again with the thorax only pubescent; some are black, some white, some fulvous, or golden tinted, and some red; some we find banded with decumbent down, and others with merely lateral spots of this close hair, but the most prevalent colour is brown, which will sometimes by immaturity take a fulvous or reddish hue. In many males we see excentrically large transversely square heads broader than the thorax, which also have widely spreading forcipate mandibles, with often a downward projecting spine at their base beneath; and it is chiefly these extravagantly formed males which are most dissimilar to their own partners that the result of observation alone confirms their specific identity. In other cases the males are so like their females that a mere neophyte would unite them. In many males the clypeus and labrum are white, which also occurs in some females; for instance, in A. labialis, but this peculiarity is found more rarely in this sex. The species are much exposed to the restricting influences of several parasites, whose parasitism is of a varying character, but the term should properly be applied only to the bees which deposit their eggs in their nests, and whose young, like that of the cuckoo among the birds, thrives at the expense of the young of the sitos by consuming its food, and thus starving it. These parasites consist of many of the species of Nomada, very pretty and gay insects, but in every case totally unlike the bee whose nest they usurp. Several of the species of these NomadÆ are not limited to any particular species of Andrena, but infest several indifferently, whereas others have no wider range in their spoliation than one single species, to which they always confine themselves. In my observations under the genus Nomada I shall notify those which they assail amongst the AndrenÆ, as well as the other genera which they also infest.

The others which attack them are more properly positive enemies than parasites, for they prey upon the bees themselves, or, as in the case of the remarkable genus Stylops, render the bee abortive by consuming its viscera and ovaries. I have spoken of these insects in the chapter upon parasites, to which I must refer, but I may here add that the female is apterous, and never quits the body of the bee. Much mystery attaches to their history in which their impregnation is involved, for the male, immediately upon undergoing its change into the imago, escapes through the dorsal plates of the abdomen of the bee wherein it was bred and takes flight. In localities where they occur they may be usually taken on the wing in the month of May. The female would seem to be viviparous, and produces extraordinary multitudes at one birth, extending to hundreds. Being born as larvÆ within the body of the bee they seek to escape from their confinement, and find the opportunity in the suture which separates the mesothorax from the metathorax. Their extreme minuteness admits of their passing through the very constricted tube which connects the abdomen with the thorax. Having now escaped into the air they alight upon the flowers which the bee frequents, and thence they affix themselves to other bees which may visit these plants, and thus perpetuate the activity of the function it is their instinct to fulfil. That many may be lost there can be no question; but Nature is very prodigal of life, for by life it endows life, and thus its activity is enlarged to a wider circle. Although the matured Stylops has preyed upon all the internal organs of the bee its attack is not immediately fatal, although the life of the creature may be thus considerably abridged, but it seems to live sufficiently long afterwards to disseminate the distribution of the Stylops. A small blackish Pediculus, which Mr. Kirby called Pediculus MelittÆ, is found also both upon the flowers the bees frequent and also upon the bees themselves, especially the pubescent ones; but this insect is not limited to the genus Andrena, as I shall have occasion to notice. The flower I have chiefly found them upon is the Dandelion (Leontodon). Their peculiar economy and connection with the bees is unknown; it may be merely an accidental and temporary attachment, but they even accompany them to their burrows.

Another and more curious case of attack upon the young of the Andrena, is instanced in the reputed parasitism of the Coleopterous genus MeloË. The perfect insect is a large apterous, fleshy, heteromerous beetle, ten times as big as the bee. Its vermicle, having issued from the egg, has the appearance of a very small pediculus, of an orange colour. They are often seen upon flowers, and, like the former pediculus, attach themselves to such suitable Andrena as may happen to visit the flowers they are upon; and, it is said, that they are thus conveyed by the bee to its domicile, and there feed to maturity upon the larva of the bee. I have no faith in the correctness of this statement, for it is not credible that so small a creature as the larva of an Andrena could fully feed the larva of so large a beetle. Observation has not satisfactorily confirmed it, and the connection may be, as in the former case, merely accidental.

Although, perhaps, not a strictly scientific course, it is certainly a matter of convenience in very long genera to break them up into divisions, framed upon external characters, readily perceptible, and, by which means, the species sought for may be more readily found. This I have done in the preceding list of the species, and which are based upon very prominent features. A slight divarication from the typical neuration of the wing is observed in some species, but it is not of a sufficiently marked character to afford a divisional separation, and even much less a subgeneric one. I have therefore passed it unnoticed. The commencing entomologist will often find considerable difficulty at first in determining the species of this genus, for so much depends upon condition; and where the colour of the pubescence is the chief characteristic, a very little exposure to the atmosphere much alters their physiognomy, but time, patience, and perseverance will ripen the novice into an adept. The connection of the males with the females, from their ordinarily great dissimilarity, was only to be accomplished by positive observation, but now that this, in the majority of cases, is effected, good descriptions facilitate their discrimination.

The most conspicuous species are the Hattorfiana and the RosÆ for size and colour; the Schrankella is also a very pretty species; and perhaps the commonest of all the cingulata is the prettiest of all, with its yellow nose and red abdomen; in the next section we may point out the longipes as being a very elegant insect,^[3] as are also the chrysosceles and the helvola. In this section we find those most subject to the attacks of the Stylops, for instance the labialis, convexiuscula, picicornis, Afzeliella, nigro-Ænea, Trimmerana, Gwynana, etc. The whole of the third and fourth sections are splendid insects, especially the fulva in the last. The comparative rarity of some results chiefly from an exceedingly local habitat. Many of the species may be found everywhere where insects can be collected, consequently, all over the United Kingdom. In all the three seasons of the year, which prompt animal life, some of the species may be collected, and the flowers they chiefly prefer are the catkins, especially of the sallow, the early flowering-fruits, the hedge-row blossoms, the heath, the broom, the dandelion, chickweed, and very many others.

3.This insect was first captured by me, and with this, my manuscript name, attached to it, it was distributed to entomologists with an unsparing hand. The ordinary courtesy of the science has been, for the describer, when not the capturer, to adopt and circulate the original authority, and not to appropriate it. Similar buccaneering has been practised with poor Bainbridge’s Osmia pilicornis, to which he had attached this manuscript name, he being the first to introduce it, having caught it at Birchwood.

Gen. Char.: Head transverse, scarcely so wide as the thorax, flat; ocelli in an open triangle on the vertex; face flat; clypeus transverse, margined; labrum transverse, slightly rounded in front; mandibles bidentate; cibarial apparatus moderately long; tongue lanceolate, fringed with delicate hair; paraglossÆ about one-third the length of the tongue, abruptly terminated, lacerate and setose at the extremity; labial palpi rather longer than the paraglossÆ, the basal joint considerably the longest, all the joints subclavate and diminishing both in robustness and length to the apex; labrum half the length of the entire apparatus, its inosculation acutely triangular; maxillÆ subhastate, as long as the tongue; maxillary palpi six-jointed, less than half the length of the maxillÆ, the joints short, subclavate and decreasing gradually from the base to the apex. Thorax densely pubescent, obscuring its divisions; metathorax truncated; wings with three submarginal cells, and a fourth slightly commenced, the second subquadrate and receiving the first recurrent nervure in its centre, the second recurrent nervure issuing from beyond the centre of the third submarginal cell; legs all pilose, especially the posterior pair, which have hair beneath the coxÆ and trochanters, above only on their femorÆ, but surrounding the tibiÆ, and as dense externally upon their plantÆ; claws distinctly bifid. Abdomen ovate, truncated at the base, the segments banded at their apex, with decumbent down, which becomes densely and widely setose on the fifth segment, the terminal segment having a central triangular glabrous plate, carinated down the centre, and very rigidly setose laterally.

The MALE scarcely differs, except in having the antennÆ less distinctly geniculated, the flagellum taking a sweeping curve, the face and clypeus much more pubescent, but the legs sexually less so; the sexes are much alike.

This genus has been named without any reference to any peculiarity, Dr. Leach having applied a Proper name to it to designate it.

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.

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 long, and the posterior coxÆ and trochanters have long hair beneath; the claws bifid. Abdomen ovate, the terminal segment with a longitudinal linear incision in its centre.

The MALES differ in having the antennÆ as long or longer than the thorax; the labrum transverse, linear, and the abdomen usually elongate and cylindrical, and much longer than the head and thorax.

This genus was named by Latreille from ?????, to crowd, or collect together, from the fact of their nidificating in numbers on the same spot.

The females closely resemble in form those of the genus Andrena, but the males are very unlike both those of that genus and their own females, for they all have long cylindrical bodies and very long antennÆ, much longer relatively than those of the former genus. Although none of the species approach in size the larger ones of the preceding genus, their extremes of specific size are as distant apart as they are in that genus, the smallest being extremely minute. Some of even the commoner species are very pretty when in fine condition, and several of them have a rich metallic green or blue tint, and in the majority the wings are iridescent with the brightest and gayest colours of the rainbow. The numbers in which they associate together upon the same spot varies considerably, and a very few indeed burrow solitarily and apart from their congeners. In burrowing they form a tunnel which branches off to several cells, the excavations being as inartificial as are those of Andrena. Walkenaer tells us in his memoir upon the genus Halictus, that they line their cells with a kind of glaze, that they burrow in horizontal surfaces to a depth of about five inches, and which they polish very smoothly previous to covering it with their viscous secretion, and that the cells are all oval, the largest end being at the bottom. He says also that they burrow solely during the night, especially when the moon is shining, when it is difficult to walk without treading upon them; so numerous are they, indeed, that they look like a cloud floating close to the surface of the ground. Although burrowing thus at night, it is only during the day that they supply their nests with their provision of pollen and lay their eggs. Each of their cells is furnished with a small ball of pollen, varying in size with the species, but which never entirely fills the cell, and is affixed intermediately between both extremities, and upon the mass contained in each cell they deposit their small egg, which is placed at the extremity of the lump of pollen most distant from the entrance. The larva is hatched in about ten days, when it changes into the pupa. Some doubt attaches as to the length of time that the pupa remains before its transformation into the imago, and also as to the period at which this takes place. A peculiarity attends the appearance of the larger species. Some are very early spring insects, among which is the Halictus rubicundus; this I have seen in abundance on the first fine spring days collecting its stores on the flowers of the chickweed. It is then in the very finest condition, and it is really a very beautiful although a very common insect, having a richly golden fulvous pubescence on the thorax, an intensely black and glabrous abdomen, the apex of which is fringed with golden hair. No males are now to be found at all. Yet it is only some species, and these the larger ones, which are subject to this peculiarity, for the smaller ones I have found burrowing during the summer months in vertical or sloping banks with a sunny aspect, whilst the males were hovering about both in the vicinity and close by, sometimes either playing or fighting on the wing with the very small NomadÆ, which infest these species parasitically, whilst their females were sedulously pursuing their vocation. Gradually these joyous spring insects lose their gayness and their brilliancy, as do those which have followed in succession of development with the growing year, and they become senile and faded and are lost as they have progressively fulfilled their function. By this time the ragwort is in bloom, and the thistle displays its pinky blossoms; now the males are to be found numerously exhibiting themselves upon these flowers, and also another equally fresh brood to those of the spring and early summer, of females. My friend the late Mr. Pickering, who was in the early days of the present Entomological Society, when it held its meetings in Old Bond Street, its honorary curator, and who was then and always, even when less leisure was afforded him from professional duties, a most assiduous and diligent observer of the habits of insects, propounded his theory, both in conversation and before the meetings of the Society, although he never drew up a paper upon the subject, that these females were then impregnated, upon which they retired to a hibernaculum, and there remained until the breath of a new spring brought them forth in all the beauty of their gay attire, and that it was from their broods deposited thus in the spring and early summer, that the autumnal insects were developed. This theory is both plausible and possible, and I have no doubt that it is the correct one; and thus is explained the total absence of males at the time of the appearance of the females in the foremost portions of the year; this habit we shall find also in the Bombi.

The flowers they delight in, besides those previously named, are among others the ribwort plantain, and the bramble, as well as the UmbelliferÆ and the flowers of the broom. The females possess two remarkable distinctions of structure not found in any of the other bees, which consist in an articulated appendage in the centre of the front margin of the labrum, and a vertical cleft in the terminal segment of the abdomen, both of which will necessarily have their uses in the economy of the insect, although what these may be has not been discovered.

They, like Andrena, are exposed to parasites and enemies. The smaller species of Nomada infest their smaller kinds, and St. Fargeau tells us that the Sphecodes are also parasitical upon them. The smallest of the genus, which is indeed an exceedingly minute insect, is subject to a very minute strepsipterous destroyer; whether this be a genuine Stylops I am not aware, but the supporting insect being so minute, in fact the smallest of our bees, how small must be the enemy bred within it! Another genus of this order has been found by Mr. Dale upon them, and which is figured as the genus Elenchus in Curtis’s ‘British Entomology.’ The smaller species are also attacked, upon their return home laden, by spiders and ants. Chryses and Hedychra are bred at their expense, and some of the Ichneumons attack them, as well as the fossorial Hymenoptera of the genera Cerceris, Crabro, and Philanthus, and these latter carry them off bodily to furnish their own nests with pabulum. Several of the species exhale a rich balmy odour, and, like all the AndrenidÆ, they are silent on the wing, and their sting is innocuous and not painful. The males are very eager in their amours, and are not easily repulsed.

Some of the species vary slightly in the neuration of the wings, and this being a rather numerous genus, although not nearly approaching the extent of Andrena, it has been proposed to make use of it for its division, but I think this is scarcely required, it not being sufficiently abundant to cause any inconvenience, the species being so distinctly marked in their specific differences by the aid of the metallic brilliancy of several of them. I have therefore arranged the species in the above list in connective order without intermission, and have placed in juxtaposition those species which appear the closest in affinity.

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.

The name of this genus comes from a????, long, and ??, 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.

Nothing, so far as I am aware, is known of the habits of these singular insects, which, I believe, have been caught only three times in this country and then only the male sex.

The first, which is in the collection of the British Museum, was brought by Dr. Leach from Devonshire; the second was caught in the New Forest by the late John Walton, Esq., distinguished for his knowledge of the British CurculionidÆ, and who kindly presented it to me for my collection when I was at the zenith of my enthusiasm for the Hymenoptera, and with that collection it passed to Mr. Thomas Desvignes, in whose possession it remains; and the third was caught by Mr. Stevens, at Weybridge, in Surrey. Why I enter so particularly into these circumstances is, that the genus is extremely peculiar both for scientific position and for structure. In the latter the male is extremely like the male of Saropoda and its female is more like the female Scopulipedes among the ApidÆ than one of the AndrenidÆ, especially in the form of the abdomen and of the intermediate and posterior legs, as well as in the length of the claws and the low insertion of the posterior joints of the tarsi upon their plantÆ, a peculiarity not occurring in another genus of the AndrenidÆ.

I have no doubt, also, that they are very musical in their flight and are, perhaps, as shrill-winged as is Saropoda; whereas one of the great characteristic specialities of the AndrenidÆ is their silence. This genus, although restrained within the circuit of the subnormal bees by the structure and folding of its tongue, has so much of the habit of one of the true ApidÆ that it almost prompts the wish to resuscitate the circular systems and place it within its own circle in analogical juxtaposition to Saropoda in the circle of the ApidÆ, where they might impinge one upon the other. It is not often that so rare an insect is at the same time so curious and so suggestive. Having been found, there is no reason why it may not be again found with due and patient diligence; my own experience has taught me how easy it is even in well-hunted ground to make rarities common, within almost a stone’s throw of the metropolis, at Hampstead, Highgate, and Battersea, from which localities in the course of my entomological career I have introduced to our fauna many novelties, one of which was certainly a remarkable discovery, from the last spot named, which it is worth recording. A quantity of soil had been removed from the City where an artesian well was being bored, and consequently from varying depths, and carted thence and cast upon the edge of the river-bank at Battersea. The following season, from this soil, a thick and prodigious quantity of the common mustard plant shot up, and when in flower I happened to be collecting near the spot on the day of our gracious Queen’s coronation, when I captured multitudes of a splendid large Allantus, entirely new to the British fauna, and a choice addition to collections. This ground had been hunted at all seasons through all botanical and entomological time, and neither had the mustard plant been found there before nor had the insect. Whence did they both come? These observations have certainly nothing to do with the subject in hand, beyond suggesting that with untiring energy in the vicinities indicated where Macropis has been already found it may possibly turn up in abundance.

Gen. Char.: Head transverse; vertex glabrous; ocelli placed in a curved line; antennÆ short, filiform, geniculated, the scape thickly bearded with long hair and scarcely half the length of the flagellum; face and clypeus densely pubescent, the latter slightly convex; labrum transverse, linear, slightly rounded in front; mandibles arcuate, bidentate, the teeth acute and robust; cibarial apparatus moderately long; tongue long, very acute, and fringed with delicate hair; paraglossÆ about one-third the length of the tongue, very slender, and acute; the labial palpi inserted upon the junction of the labium, very slender, filiform, of uniform thickness, the joints subclavate, the basal joint considerably the longest, the second joint also long, the two terminal joints much shorter and decreasing in length; labium about the length of the tongue, its inosculation acutely triangular; maxillÆ hastate, as long as the tongue; maxillary palpi six-jointed, rather more than half the length of the maxillÆ, slender, the basal joint the most robust, the second the longest, the rest declining both in thickness and length. Thorax oval, densely pubescent, the divisions indistinct from its density; scutellum lunulate; metathorax subtruncate; wings with two submarginal cells and a third commenced, the second receiving both the recurrent nervures, the first close to its commencement and the second just beyond its centre; legs slender, pubescent, especially the tibiÆ and plantÆ, the hair upon the posterior pair being extremely dense and long, and each hair twisted minutely spirally; their coxÆ, trochanters, and femora also covered with long hair; claws bifid, the inner tooth very short. Abdomen oval, the basal and fifth segments densely hairy, the superior surface glabrous and shining, excepting where the white decumbent bands broadly edge the three intermediate segments.

The MALE differs in being more densely pubescent, especially upon the abdomen, which is not glabrous, and in not having the antennÆ geniculated; the bands of the abdomen are fulvous, and its legs are longer and more slender, and it is sexually less hairy, although still considerably so.

This genus is named from the extreme hairiness of its posterior legs, p???, hairy, p???, p?d??, foot or leg. It is one of the most elegant of our native bees, both in form and the extreme congruity of its habiliment. This is unfortunately but a bridal raiment, for almost as soon as the arduous duties of maternity supervene these bright garments fade, and the workday suit immediately shows the wear and tear produced by the labours of life. The male flaunts about longer in the freshness of his attire, but he is usually the assiduous companion of his spouse, although he does not participate in her toils. They are late summer insects, and form their burrows upon banks having a southern aspect; these they excavate deeper than does Andrena, and smooth and polish them internally. They generally prefer spots intertangled with shrubs, and at the mouth of the cylinder they tunnel they heap up the extracted soil, to use a portion for closing it when their task is accomplished. In the course of this process, especially if a cloud pass over the sun, they will come forward to the aperture. They collect large quantities of pollen, for which the hair upon their posterior tibiÆ and plantÆ is excellently well adapted both by its length and the additional storing power it possesses in each individual hair being spirally twisted, although they are unprovided with the furniture of hair upon the femora and coxÆ found in the genus AndrenÆ. Thus nature likes to vary its mode of accomplishing the same object. The details of their nursery processes are not known. For their protection their sting is very virulent, and also actively employed, as they have many enemies, especially amongst the fossorial Hymenoptera, whom they stoutly resist to the extent of their strength. We are not aware of any special parasites that infest them. They are semi-gregarious in their habits, for where they occur any quantity of them may be taken. They are found in their season in the southern counties, the Isle of Wight, and in several parts of Kent and its eastern coast, and even as near London as Charlton. They seem to prefer the composite flowers, having a great liking for the bastard Hawkweed and the Dandelion. A fine series of them forms a great ornament to a collection.

Gen. Char.: Head transversely subquadrate; ocelli in a triangle on the vertex, which, as well as the face, is convex, the latter between the antennÆ carinated as far as the clypeus; antennÆ short, subclavate, the second joint of the flagellum considerably the longest, the remainder equal; clypeus slightly convex; labrum transversely quadrate, convex; mandibles acutely unidentate; cibarial apparatus long; tongue half its entire length, gradually acute, and fringed laterally with delicate hair; paraglossÆ slender, acute, membranous, not quite half the length of the tongue; labial palpi more than half the length of the tongue, the basal joint longer than the two following, the remainder gradually decreasing in length, all conterminous; labium half the length of the cibarial apparatus, broad; maxillÆ slender, subhastate, as long as the tongue; maxillary palpi six-jointed, the basal joint robust, subclavate, as is the second joint, but more slender, the remainder filiform, gradually declining in length. Thorax oval; prothorax inconspicuous; mesothorax with a deep central groove; bosses protuberant; scutellum and post-scutellum lunulate; metathorax gibbous; wings with the marginal cell slightly appendiculated, two submarginal cells and a third commenced, the second receiving both the recurrent nervures, the first close to its commencement and the second beyond its centre; the legs densely pilose, the posterior pair having their coxÆ and trochanters beneath, their femora in front, above, the tibiÆ and plantÆ all round, covered with long hair; claws bifid. Abdomen ovate, the base subtruncate, the basal segment having a deep central impression at its base, the fifth segment fringed with short dense hair, the terminal segment with a triangular plate carinated in the centre, and fimbriated laterally, and all very slightly constricted.

The MALE scarcely differs, except in having the head rather more globose and more pubescent; and the legs, although still hairy, much less so than in the female.

?a??????? signifies one excessively industrious, at least as it is applied here, although it has other less meritorious meanings, but these insects can scarcely be considered more energetic than any of their associates; perhaps the contrast made between the bright yellow pollen and their lugubrious vestment might give the idea of very active collecting, they being usually, upon returning from their foray, almost entirely disguised in the produce of their excursion. They are rather remarkable insects from their intensely black colour and their compact active forms; their square head and short clavate antennÆ give them a sturdy business-like appearance. They also are silent on the wing, but being at the very van of the present subfamily, forming as it were the advanced picket of the ApidÆ, it may be considered suitable that they should retain, by way of partial disguise, some of the characteristics of the preceding subfamily. In many respects, therefore, they closely approach Dasypoda: thus their legs are similarly furnished with hair, relatively as long and having the same spiral twist, and their whole habit is that of one of the AndrenidÆ, excepting that their clavate antennÆ, and the folding of their tongue in repose, separate them from that subfamily. They are local insects, but extremely abundant when fallen upon. I used to find the first species upon an elevated plateau, on the south side over-hanging the Vale of Health and its large pond at Hampstead. Every Dandelion, for a wide circuit in the vicinity, was crowded with individuals—assiduously collecting, in the case of females, but basking in sunny indolence, and revelling in the attractions of the flower, in the case of males, and, at the same time, their burrowing spot, which was not larger than half-a-dozen square yards, was swarming with them, coming and going, burrowing and provisioning. Very numerous, but not so numerous as themselves, were their pretty parasite, the Nomada Fabriciana, fine specimens of both sexes of which I have constantly captured; and a remarkable singularity pertaining to the latter is, that some seasons it would totally fail, and another season present itself sparsely, when, after these lapses, it would recur in all its primitive profusion, although the Panurgus was every season equally present. Both these insects are found during the months of June and July, especially about the middle of the former. In their burrows, which they perforate vertically, they usually enclose about six cells, each being duly provisioned and the egg deposited, when each is separately closed and the orifice of the cylinder filled up. This species is also found in Kent and Surrey, and I have no doubt they might be discovered in most of the southern counties. The smaller species, which is a good deal like a little Tiphia, is remarkable for the peculiarity of the male having a projecting process upon its posterior femora, whence it derives its specific name, calcaratus, which is hardly consistent, as it is not quite the right place for a spur. This smaller species is also found in Kent, Hampshire, and at Weybridge, in Surrey, and in the Isle of Wight. As well as in the Leontodon, it likes to repose in the flowers of the Mouse-ear Hawkweed (Hieracium).

Gen. Char.: Head transverse; vertex concave; ocelli in a curve, and very high up; face flattish; clypeus very convex, hirsute, and fimbriated; labrum transverse-ovate, and emarginate in front; mandibles very obtusely and inconspicuously bidentate; tongue very long and slender, and gradually acuminating, transversely striated; paraglossÆ slender, membranous, very acute, and about two-thirds the length of the tongue; labial palpi membranous, and about the length of the paraglossÆ, the basal joint linear, broad, longer than the rest united, the second about half its length and acuminate, the two terminal ones are very short and equal, and articulate within the apex of the second joint; labium less than half the length of the tongue, its inosculation concave; maxillÆ two-thirds the length of the tongue, subhastate; maxillary palpi six-jointed, short, less than one-third the length of the maxillÆ, the basal joint robust, the rest filiform, and gradually decreasing in length and substance. Thorax very pubescent, which conceals its divisions; metathorax truncated; wings with two submarginal cells, the second receiving both the recurrent nervures, one near each of its extremities; legs setose, especially the tibiÆ and plantÆ, which, in the posterior pair is very dense on the exterior of the tibiÆ, and both externally and internally upon the plantÆ, the following joints of the posterior tarsi inserted beneath, and within the extremity of their plantÆ; the claw-joint being longer than the two preceding, and the claws acutely bifid. Abdomen oval, convex above, subtruncate at the base, where it is thickly pubescent, the other segments glabrous on the disk; the fifth segment fimbriated with decumbent short hair, and the terminal segment having a central triangular plate at the sides of which it is rigidly setose.

The MALE differs in having the antennÆ longer than the thorax, filiform, but with their several joints curved, the curvature increasing towards the terminal joints, the integument of the whole of the flagellum consisting of a congeries of minute hexagons, the edges of which are all raised, and the whole resembling shagreen; the legs have the usual sexual slighter and extended development, and are necessarily less setose; it is also deficient in the transverse whitish bands of decumbent hair upon the abdomen, which is more densely pubescent on the first and second segments; and the four terminal joints of the posterior tarsi are conterminous with their plantÆ.

This genus derives its name from the great length of the antennÆ in the male,—e?, good or great, ???a?, horn. The name of the genus is usually given from some female characteristic, or from a peculiarity common to both sexes, or irrespective of any direct application, but here we find it deduced from a feature exclusively masculine. Instances of the first class we see in Colletes, Halictus, Andrena, Dasypoda, Panurgus, Saropoda, Ceratina, Coelioxys, Chelostoma, Heriades, Anthocopa, and Apathus; of the second class we have Prosopis, Sphecodes, Macropis, Anthophora, Nomada, Melecta, perhaps Epeolus, according to Latreille’s idea, Stelis, Anthidium, Osmia, and Bombus; the third class comprises in our series merely Cilissa, and in this series the male characteristics that have suggested the name are just as few, being limited to the present genus. But the males among the bees exhibit in many cases strong and striking peculiarities which distinguish them from their partners. Exclusively of the general distinction expressed in their organic difference by the possession of one additional joint to the antennÆ and one more segment to the abdomen than is exhibited in the females, we find in many cases in these two parts of their structure very marked singularities. Great sexual differences in the length of the antennÆ are not restricted to the present genus; in fact, in most of the genera, this is the first striking feature, but which becomes conspicuously so in some species of Sphecodes, in most of the Halicti, in some NomadÆ, in Chelostoma, Osmia, Apathus, and Bombus. In Eucera and Sphecodes, each joint of the flagellum is slightly curved, and in the former the surface of those joints appears compounded of hexagons. In Chelostoma the antennÆ, besides being longer than in the female, are also very much slighter and slightly compressed, and have a structure capable of curling upon itself; in the female of this genus the organ is clavate; and in Osmia, besides their length, in one species the male has a fringe of hair attached to one side along the whole of the organ. In other cases, where the antennÆ are not remarkably longer in the male they have extra development by becoming thicker, as in Melecta; and in Megachile the terminal joint of their antennÆ is laterally dilated and compressed. In scarcely any case are they geniculated at the scape in the male, as they are in the female. The other genera with clavate antennÆ have the same structure in both sexes, as in Panurgus and Ceratina. Remarkable peculiarities in the terminal ventral segment or segments of the male may be found most conspicuously developed in Halictus, Coelioxys, Anthidium, Chelostoma, Heriades, Osmia, Apathus, Bombus, and Apis. In Coelioxys and Anthidium, and some of the OsmiÆ, this sex is further furnished with a series of projecting spines, processes, or serrations at the apex of the terminal dorsal segment. In Chelostoma, the ventral structure of the male is very singular, the apex being adapted to a mucro at the base which permits the insect to curl up this portion of the body similarly to its antennÆ, the furcated extremity of the abdomen fitting, when thus folded, upon the mucro. It is as well to draw observation to these peculiarities, which give additional interest to the study of the group.

The genus Eucera appears in May and June. In some parts they are found in large colonies; although I have seen them abundant I never found them in this gregarious condition, and I have usually discovered them frequenting loamy and sandy soils; they burrow a cell six or eight inches deep, form an oval chamber at its extremity, which as well as the sides of the cylinder leading to it they make extremely smooth, and by some process prevent its absorbing the mixture of honey and pollen which they store for the supply of the larva, and each contains but one young one. These, having full fed, lie in a dormant state throughout the winter and do not change into pupÆ until mid-spring, and speedily transform into the imago, which, until fully matured, is closely in every part and limb covered with a thin silky pellicle, wherein it lies as in a shroud, but at its appointed time, regulated by some influence of which we have no cognizance, active life becomes developed, it then casts off its envelope and comes forth to revel in the sunshine, in close companionship with a partner which its instinct promptly teaches it to find. The largest of our native NomadÆ is its parasite the N. sexcincta, and which seems wholly restricted to it, but which is often even rare in places where the Eucera abounds. The female, like those of the rest of the bees, is no time-waster, but flies steadily to and fro in her occupation of provisioning her nest, and the male often accompanies her in these expeditions, gallantly winging about with extreme velocity as if to divert his sedulous companion in the fatigue of her toil, by his evolutions and his music, which is very sonorous. And on a fine May day it is extremely pleasant in a picturesque situation to sit and watch the operations of these very active insects. In their recent state, when just evolved from the nidus, they are very elegant, being covered with a close silky down, which labour and exposure soon abrades. It is said that this bee deserts her nest when she finds the stranger’s egg deposited on the provender laid up in store, or when she meets with the Nomada within, which sometimes lays two eggs in one cell. To this she does not deliver battle, as does the Anthophora to Melecta, but patiently vacates the nest, leaving it to the service of the parasite, which is also supposed to close it herself, having been caught with clay encrusted upon her posterior legs. For the accuracy of this supposition I cannot vouch, never having observed the circumstance, nor have I seen reason to abandon the idea that the parasite has no instinct for labour of any kind,—the presence of the clay being, I expect, merely accidental, for it is notorious that these insects have an overruling predilection for keeping themselves extremely clean.

Gen. Char.: Head transverse, nearly as wide as the thorax; vertex depressed; ocelli placed in a curved line upon its posterior margin; antennÆ short, subclavate, basal joint of flagellum globose, its second joint longer than the scape, very slender, the rest of the joints subequal; face flattish; clypeus protuberant; labrum quadrate, convex; mandibles distinctly bidentate and obtuse; cibarial apparatus very long; tongue very long, transversely striated, and with a small knob at the extremity; paraglossÆ about one-third the length of the tongue, acuminate; labial palpi slender, more than half the length of the tongue, membranous, the basal joint as long again as the remainder, the second joint very slender and very acute; the two terminal joints very short and subclavate, inserted before the extremity of the second joint; labium short, one-fourth the length of the tongue, its inosculation concave; maxillÆ hastate, not so long as the tongue; maxillary palpi one-third the length of the maxillÆ, six-jointed, the basal joint very robust, the rest filiform, the second the longest, and all the rest decreasing in length and substance. Thorax oval, densely pubescent, which conceals its divisions; metathorax truncated; wings with three submarginal cells, closed, the second receives the first recurrent nervure in its centre, and the third, which bulges externally, receives the second at its extremity; legs setose, the exterior of the posterior tibiÆ and plantÆ moderately so, and the interior of the latter also densely setose; the second joint of the posterior tarsi inserted beneath and within the termination of their plantÆ; the claw-joint longer than the two preceding; claws bifid, the inner tooth distant from the external. Abdomen ovate, subpubescent, the fifth segment densely fimbriated and the terminal segment with an emarginate appendage.

In the MALES the antennÆ are very similar, but the mandibles are more acutely bidentate, and with the exception of the form of the legs, the general aspect is like the female; the legs, although setose, are less conspicuously so, the intermediate tarsi in the first section of the genus being longer than the rest of the entire leg, and are fringed externally with very long hair, or it is restricted to the plantÆ of that leg and then it is short and very rigid; the entire limb stretched out extends beyond the widest expansion of the superior wings. The ABDOMEN is also less retuse than in the female, at its basal segment.

In the second division of this genus, of which Anthophora furcata may be considered to be the type, the general habit is precisely the same, but the insects are not so pubescent, and there is a greater similarity between the sexes. The intermediate legs also, although long in the male, are not so extremely long as they are in the first section.

The name ?????, f?? f????, flower-rifler, would be as suitable for any other genus of bees, and therefore may be classed with those names which have no explicit signification.

The two divisions which our native species of this genus form, might very consistently constitute two genera, differing so much as they do both in habit and habits. In the first section the males totally differ from their females, the latter being black and the pubescence of their partners fulvous, and whose intermediate legs are so much longer, and are decorated besides with tufts of hair upon their plantÆ, neither peculiarity being found in those of the second section, which conform more regularly to the ordinary type of structure. The first section also nidificate gregariously, forming enormous colonies which consist of many hundreds; whereas the second are solitary nidificators, and at most half-a-dozen may be found within as many square yards of territory, and one species, the A. furcata, diverges considerably from the ordinary habits of the genus, and closely approaches those of the foreign genus Xylocopa, but its structure necessarily retains it within the boundaries of the genus. All these insects exhibit the peculiar characteristic of the Scopulipedes, in the insertion of the second joint of the posterior tarsi at the very bottom of their plantÆ, conjunctively with the polliniferous scopa, placed externally upon their tibiÆ and plantÆ, in which characteristics the Andrenoid Macropis remarkably resembles them, and which I have noticed in my remarks upon that genus.

The first section burrows in banks, where their colonies are extremely numerous. In the tunnels which they form they construct several elliptical cells which they line with a delicate membrane of a white colour, formed by a secretion or saliva derived from the digestion of either the pollen or the honey which they consume. Each cell when formed is stored as usual, and the egg deposited, and then it is closed. There is but little variation in these processes among all the solitary bees, excepting in the case of the artisan bees and the more elaborate processes of Colletes, in which, however, the casing is merely thicker, arising from several layers of the coating membrane. The perfect insects make their appearance during the spring and summer months, their successive maturity being the result of the previous summer and autumn deposit of eggs. They pass the winter and spring in the larva state, and undergo their transformations into pupa and imago with but slight interval, and only shortly before the appearance of the perfect insect. When first presenting themselves they are certainly very handsome insects, and if carefully killed preserve their beauty for many years in the cabinet. I have found the retusa, Linn., (Kirby’s Haworthana,) in enormous profusion at Hampstead Heath, indeed, so numerous were they, that late in the afternoon, upon approaching the colony, they, in returning home, would strike as forcibly against me as is often done by Melolontha vulgaris or Geotrupes stercorarius. In equal abundance I have found the A. acervorum at Charlton, where I have experienced a similar battery. This is the insect which Gilbert White, in his letters from Selborne, describes as having found in numbers at Mount Caburn, near Lewes, a spot I have often visited in my schoolboy days. This section is subject to the parasitism of the genus Melecta, whose incursions are very repugnant to them, and which they exhibit in very fierce pugnacity, for if they catch the intruder in her invasion they will draw her forth and deliver battle with great fury. I have seen both the combatants rolling in the dust, the combat and escape made perhaps easier to the Melecta by the load the Anthophora was bearing home. Upon the larva also of this bee it is said that the larva of the Heteromerous genus MeloË is nurtured; this I have never been able to verify, but I believe the fact is fully confirmed. This beetle is closely allied to the Cantharides, or blister-beetles, and it itself exudes a very acrimonious yellow liquid when touched or irritated. Two of the ChalcididÆ also infest their larvÆ, which they destroy; one is the Melittobia, named thus from its preying upon bees; it, like the majority of its tribe, is exceedingly minute, and of a shining dark green metallic colour. It is peculiar from having its lateral eyes simple, and in possessing besides three ocelli. The other genus is Monodontomeris, an equally small insect, which, although living upon the larva of Anthophora, is equally preyed upon by that of the Melittobia. The universal scourge, Forficula, is a great devastator of these colonies, where, of course, it revels in its destructive propensities.

The insects of the second division I have never been able to track to their burrows, but have always caught them either on the wing or on flowers, especially upon those of the common Mallow, and I have found both species all round London. They are said also to frequent the Dead Nettle (Lamium purpureum). The A. quadrimaculata burrows in banks, and its processes are scarcely different from those of the preceding species, only its habits are solitary. In flight it is exceedingly rapid, and thus much resembles Saropoda. But the A. furcata bores into putrescent wood, in which it forms a longitudinal pipe subdivided into nine or ten oval divisions, separated from each other by agglutinated scrapings of the same material, very much masticated, the closing of each forming a sharp sort of cornice; each of these cells is about half an inch in length, and three-tenths of an inch in diameter, the separations between them being about a line thick. These pipes or cylinders run parallel to the sides of the wood thus bored, an angle being made both at its commencement and its termination, and thus the latter permits the ready escape of the developed imago nearest that extremity, which being the first deposited, that cell being the first constructed, it necessarily becomes the first transmuted, and thus has not to wait for the egress of all above it.

All these insects are usually accompanied by their partners in their flight, and their amorous intercourse takes place upon the wing.

Gen. Char.: Head transverse, as wide as the thorax, very pubescent; ocelli placed in a triangle, the anterior one low towards the face; vertex slightly concave; antennÆ short, filiform, basal joint of flagellum globose, the second joint subclavate and the longest, the rest short and equal; face flattish, short; clypeus forming an obtuse triangle, slightly convex; labrum quadrate, with the angles rounded; mandibles obtusely bidentate; cibarial apparatus long; tongue very long and slender, but gradually expanding towards half its length and then as gradually tapering to the extremity and terminating in a small knob, its sides throughout being fimbriated with short delicate down; paraglossÆ one-third its length, membranous, very delicate, and tapering to a point; labial palpi slender, membranous, the joints conterminous, the basal joint more than half the length of the tongue, the remainder short, the second the longest of these three, and all tapering to the pointed apical one; labium scarcely one-third as long as the tongue, rather broad, bifid at its inosculation; maxillÆ nearly as long as the tongue, gradually diminishing from its basal sinus to a point at its extremity; maxillary palpi four-jointed, about one-third the length of the maxillÆ, the basal joint short, robust, the second tapering from its base to the third joint, which is rather shorter and subclavate, the terminal joint slender. Thorax very pubescent, rendering its divisions inconspicuous; scutellum and post-scutellum lunulate and convex; metathorax truncated; wings as in Anthophora, with three marginal cells closed, the second forming a truncated triangle, and receiving the first recurrent nervure near its centre, the third bulging outwardly and receiving the second recurrent nervure at its extremity; legs very setose, especially the posterior tibiÆ externally, and their plantÆ both externally and internally, but the setÆ are longer on the exterior of the joint, the second joint of these tarsi inserted beneath, and before the termination of their plantÆ, the terminal joint longer than the two preceding; claws bifid, the inner tooth distant from the apex. Abdomen subovate, very convex, truncated at its base, where it is densely pubescent, the fifth segment fimbriated with stiff setÆ, and the terminal segment having a central triangular plate with rigid setÆ at its sides.

The MALE scarcely differs, excepting in the characteristic sexual disparities of slightly longer antennÆ, and considerably longer intermediate tarsi, whose apical joint is very clavate.

The name of this genus is as applicable to the subsection as to the genus itself, s????, brush, p?Û? p?d??, a foot, in allusion to their polliniferous posterior legs.

We have but one species, but it is very characteristic; for, although retaining several of the features of the second division of Anthophora (in the colouring of the face it participates with the males of both divisions), yet has it still a marked physiognomy of its own; it retains the normal colouring of bees generally, but its strongest distinction from that division of Anthophora is the shortness of the antennÆ in the female, as in the length of the intermediate legs of the male it would seem to form a link between the two divisions, could a distinct genus stand in such a position, and would almost import the necessity of elevating that division to generic rank, as hinted at in the observations under Anthophora. In the large development of its claws it seems to point to an economy somewhat differing from that second division, but nobody appears to have traced it to its nidus. I have often captured it at Battersea upon the Mallow, together with A. quadrimaculata, but the singular velocity of its flight might indicate a very distant domicile,—in a few minutes it could traverse miles. The electrical vivacity and rich opaline tint of its eyes has been often observed, but this, unfortunately, fades with death; yet so marked is it that it has called forth the distinct observation of a Panzer and a Kirby. Besides the Mallow it has been observed to frequent the Heaths, and were its habits better known would be found, I have no doubt, to visit many other flowers, for Curtis took it in the Isle of Wight sleeping in the great Knapweed, Centaurea scabiosa. I have never caught it laden.

I have hazarded the conjecture in a different part of this work that the music of the bees might be attuned to a musical scale by associating the different species in the due gradation of their varying tones. Here we have one of the most musical of the tribe,—not a monotonous dull sleepy hum, but a fine contralto, the very Patti amongst the bees. But it is rapidity of motion which in them intensifies the note they chant, and the velocity of the flight of this insect is something remarkable. They dart about with almost the rapidity of a flash of lightning, and this swiftness of approach and retreat modulates their accents.

Under the head “Macropis” I have pointed to some strong resemblances between this genus and that.

Gen. Char.: Head transverse, convex, glabrous; ocelli placed in a triangle on the vertex, which is, as well as the face, convex; antennÆ short, subclavate, each inserted in a separate deep cavity in the centre of the face, the first joint of the flagellum globose, the second the longest of all and slender at its base, but all gradually enlarging to the extremity; clypeus very gibbous; labrum quadrate, convex; cibarial apparatus long; tongue long and tapering, and with a minute knob at its extremity; paraglossÆ obsolete; labial palpi three-fourths as long as the tongue, the two first joints membranous and diminishing in width, the second joint rather shorter than the basal one and acute at its extremity, and externally before its termination the two very short terminal ones are inserted; labium half the length of the tongue, with a lozenge-shaped inosculation; maxillÆ as long as the tongue, broad at the base, whence it abruptly acuminates to the slender apex; maxillary palpi six-jointed, filiform, the three first joints subequal, the three terminal gradually decreasing in length. Thorax oval, glabrous; prothorax inconspicuous; mesothorax with a central basal groove, the bosses conspicuous and shining; scutellum and post-scutellum lunulate; metathorax subtruncate; wings with three submarginal cells and a fourth slightly commenced, the second in the form of a truncated triangle, the third considerably larger than the second, and each receiving a recurrent nervure just beyond the centre; legs plumose but not densely so, the hair very long within the posterior tibiÆ, but denser and shorter on its exterior; the posterior plantÆ also plumose, and all the joints of the posterior tarsi conterminous; claws bifid. Abdomen glabrous, subclavate, very convex above and flat beneath, subtruncate at the base, and the basal segments slightly constricted.

The MALE scarcely differs, excepting in the clypeus being less gibbous, the legs not plumose, and the sixth segment of the abdomen carinated in the centre towards its extremity, and impending over the seventh, which is transversely gibbous, then depressed, and with an obtuse process at its extremity.

This genus is named from the presence of a little horn between its antennÆ, ?e?at???, a horn. Some foreign entomologists, especially Latreille and Le Pelletier de St. Fargeau, have considered it to be parasitical, but that it is not so we have the authority of the Marquis Spinola, of Genoa, confirmed by the testimony of Mr. Thwaites, a very accurate observer, in the vicinity of Bristol, where the insect is not at all uncommon, although extremely rare in most other parts, and consequently usually a desideratum to cabinets, from its great beauty both of form and colour, notwithstanding that it is so very small in size. It has also been found in other localities, as at Birchwood, where the late Mr. Bambridge used to take it, and as near London as Charlton, at both which places I have no doubt it might frequently be found were it carefully looked for, but the practised entomological eye is often wanting to detect an insect unless it be conspicuously present. Its usual nidus is a bramble or briar stick, from which it excavates the pith, and this it has been frequently observed doing, and both sexes have been repeatedly bred from such sticks. We have no notice of any peculiarity in its mode of forming its cells, which may resemble that of such wood-boring genera as Chelostoma and Heriades, although its structure would intimate a closer affinity to the habits of the exotic genus Xylocopa; nor is there extant any account of the process or time occupied in the development of its young. Spinola’s notion, from not seeing the sufficiency of the hair upon the posterior tibiÆ for the purpose, assumed that the pollen was conveyed home on the forehead and between the antennÆ, he having caught an insect with some pollen accidentally incrusted there in the insect’s honey-seeking excursion. The hair upon these legs is very sparse, it is true, but then it is very long, and the quantity of pollen required for the nurture of the larva is evidently small, from its having been observed that the store upon which the egg is deposited is semi-liquid, thus preponderating in the admixture of honey.

That it has not been caught laden with pollen upon its legs has no weight against the fact of its non-parasitism, for it is not always that the excursions of bees are made for the purpose of collecting pollen. Honey is as necessary to their economy—and in this case perhaps more so—as pollen, and the only way to determine the fact of its carrying pollen, corroboratively, would be when knowing that one of these bees has visited a bramble stick—its presumptive nidus,—to watch the stick very patiently for the insect’s return from every journey until it came back laden; the presence of pollen upon its legs would surely be indicated by the difference of its colour from the ordinary dark hue of the little labourer.

We have already noticed bees with metallic hues among the Halicti, and there are slight indications of it in some of the AndrenÆ, for instance, in the A. cinerea and the A. nigro-Ænea, etc., but in none hitherto so absolutely is it exhibited as in this genus. The prevalent colour of the bees, that is to say, the ground colour of the integument, and not the fleeting one of the pubescence, is black or brown, but here we have a positive metallic tinge, which we shall again come across in many shades and hues in the genus Osmia.

A second species of the genus was brought from Devonshire by Dr. Leach, and is in the collection of the British Museum, but no other specimens of the same species have since been found.

The only flower which it has been noticed that they frequent is the Viper’s Bugloss (Echium vulgare).

Gen. Char.: Head transverse; ocelli in a triangle on the vertex; antennÆ filiform, scarcely geniculated, the scape short, the basal joint of the flagellum subglobose, the second joint clavate, the remainder subequal; face flat, or slightly concave, carinated longitudinally in the centre between the insertion of the antennÆ; clypeus subtriangular, convex, deflected at the lateral angles; labrum subcircular, very gibbous and protuberant; mandibles acute or subbidentate; tongue long, acute; paraglossÆ about one-fourth its length, acute; labial palpi two-thirds the length of the tongue, the two basal joints membranous, the basal one as long as the rest united, and tapering to its extremity, the second joint less than half the length of the first, and not wider at its base than the apex of the first joint, and tapering like that to its end, where it is acute, the third joint short, subclavate, and the terminal one-half the length of the preceding, very slender and linear; labium about one-half the length of the tongue, and at its inosculation produced obtusely in the centre; maxillÆ subhastate, about the length of the tongue; maxillary palpi six-jointed, the basal joint short, robust, subclavate, the second the longest, and with the rest tapering in substance and diminishing in length to the extremity, the terminal joint being very little shorter than the preceding. Thorax ovate; prothorax inconspicuous, or distinct and angulated laterally; mesothorax glabrous, deeply punctulated; its bosses conspicuous and prominent; scutellum divided into two very prominent tubercles; post-scutellum linear, convex; metathorax with a triangular space at its base, and declining to the insertion of the abdomen; wings with three submarginal cells, and a fourth very slightly commenced, the first as long as the two following, and each of which receives a recurrent nervure about its centre; legs subspinose externally on the tibiÆ, and not polliniferous; claws of tarsi small and not bifid. Abdomen oval, glabrous, shining; terminal segment triangular, with its sides ridged.

The MALE scarcely differs, excepting in sometimes being more profusely adorned with colour, but this is not always the case, the female being often the most ornate. There are very slight differences in the antennÆ in the sexes, which may be readily associated together.

This genus was named by Fabricius from the Nomades, a pastoral Scythian tribe, in allusion to the assumed wandering habits of the insects, and it is the fact indeed that they are usually found leisurely hovering about hedge-rows, or the banks enclosing fields, or about the metropolis or nidus of any bee upon which they are parasitical. They are the gayest of all our bees, their colours being red or yellow intermixed with black, in bands or spots; they are also very elegant in form, which is after the type of that of the most normal AndrenidÆ, and to which they have a further affinity by the silence of their flight, and by their parasitism upon many of the species of that subfamily. From their very general resemblance to wasps in colour they are often mistaken for wasps, and are popularly called wasp-bees, although they have none of the virulence of that vindictive tribe, for although all the females are armed with stings, they are not prompt in their use, or if roused to defence the puncture is but slight. In addition to their prettiness of colour and elegance of form, they have a further attraction in the agreeable odours they emit, sometimes of a balmy or balsamical, and sometimes of a mixed character, and often as sweet as the pot-pourri, and occasionally pleasantly pungent. A fine string of specimens of the several species is a great ornament to a collection, but to secure this in its perfection some care is required in the mode of killing them. Their colours are best permanently retained by suffocating them with sulphur, which fixes the reds and yellows in all their natural and living purity. My method was in my collecting excursions to convey with me a large store of pill-boxes of various sizes, and as I captured insects in my green gauze bag-net, I transferred them separately to these boxes. When home again I lifted the lids slightly on one side and placed as many as would readily go beneath a tumbler, and then fumigated them with the sulphur. This is a better plan than killing them with crushed laurel-leaves, for it leaves the limbs much longer flexible for the purposes of setting, whereas the laurel has a tendency to make them rigid, and this rigidity is extremely difficult to relax, whereas the setting of those killed with sulphur, if they are kept in a cool place, may be deferred for a few days, until leisure intervene to permit it, and even then if they become stiffened they are readily relaxed for the purpose.

A division might very consistently be established in the genus by the separation of those which have subclavate antennÆ, and the segments of whose abdomen are slightly constricted; these also are more essentially midsummer insects, and usually frequent the Ragwort. This is the only genus of parasites amongst the true bees whose parasitism is directed exclusively upwards in the scientific arrangement; the parasitism of all the rest of the genera of Nudipedes bears upon the genera below them in the series. Some of the species of the NomadÆ attack more than one species or one genus, but the majority are strictly limited to but one genus and one species. The genera obnoxious to this annoyance are Andrena, Halictus, Panurgus, and Eucera; the latter two have but one of these enemies each, the Nomada Fabriciana infesting the Panurgus Banksianus, and the N. sexfasciata frequenting the Eucera longicornis. Under Panurgus I have alluded to the relative abundance of the parasite at the metropolis of its sitos. As far as known, the other species are thus distributed. Those frequenting several indifferently are the Nomada alternata, Lathburiana, succincta, and ruficornis, which are found to infest Andrena Trimmerana, tibialis, Afzeliella, and fulva, without displaying any choice; whereas others confine themselves to one sitos exclusively: thus Nomada ochrostoma limits itself to Andrena labialis; N. Germanica to A. fulvescens; N. lateralis to A. longipes; N. baccata to A. argentata; N. borealis to A. Clarkella; N. Fabriciana to Panurgus Banksianus; and N. sexfasciata to Eucera longicornis. Observation has not yet fully determined whither each species of Nomada conveys its parasitism; several infest the Halicti, especially the smaller species; the association of these it is difficult to determine; I have usually found several of the small Halicti burrowing together in the vertical surface of an enclosure bank, and several of the small Nomada hovering cautiously opposite, now alighting and entering a burrow, then retreating backwards and winging off. I lost patience in endeavouring to combine the species by the aid of blades of grass or slight straws thrust into the aperture, but the crumbling nature of the soil frustrated my wishes, and I abandoned the attempt. This field of observation is widely open to the exertions of observing naturalists, and the novelty of their discoveries would well reward the toil of the undertaking, for it would not be long before they gathered fruit.

Gen. Char.: Head transverse, scarcely so wide as the thorax; ocelli in a triangle on the vertex; antennÆ filiform, rather robust, and but slightly geniculated, the scape not longer than the two following joints, the second joint of the flagellum the longest and clavate, the rest short, nearly equal, and the terminal one laterally compressed at its extremity; face flat, very pubescent; clypeus short transverse, lunulate, convex; labrum irregularly gibbous, obovate; mandibles strongly bidentate; tongue long, slightly expanding towards the middle and thence tapering to the extremity, and with a central line; paraglossÆ scarcely half the length of the tongue, almost setiform, but robust at the base; labial palpi more than half the length of the tongue, the two first joints membranous and very slender, the first longer than the rest united, the second about half the length of the first, and terminating acutely, the third not more than one-fourth the length of the second, and inserted laterally before its termination, the fourth about as long as the third, and, like it, subclavate, both being more robust than the second; labium not half the length of the tongue, and acutely triangular at its inosculation; maxillÆ subhastate, not quite so long as the tongue; maxillary palpi five-jointed, about one-third the length of the maxillÆ, the basal joint clavate, short, and robust; the second elongate, subclavate, the remainder gradually but slightly diminishing in substance and length, the terminal not so long as the basal joint. Thorax very retuse, and its divisions scarcely distinguishable; scutellum bidentate; metathorax abruptly truncated; wings with three closed submarginal cells, the second the smallest, irregularly triangular, and receiving the first recurrent nervure just beyond its centre, the third submarginal considerably larger than the second, sublunulate, but angulated externally and receiving the second recurrent nervure about its centre; the legs robust and spinulose, especially the tibiÆ externally (where they are very convex) and the femora beneath; the claws short, strong and bifid. The Abdomen conical, truncated, and retuse at its base, the apical segment with a central triangular plate ridged laterally, and fimbriated at its sides with strong setÆ.

The MALE scarcely differs in personal appearance, excepting that its antennÆ are more robust and its ornamental pubescence is more profuse, its posterior tibiÆ very robust and almost triangular, and the terminal segment of its abdomen slightly emarginate and concave at its extremity.

Named from ???, honey, ????, I collect; which is scarcely the case, for the parasites, although they may indulge in the luxury of honey as epicures, or resort to it as a repast, cannot be said to collect it, for it is only the labouring bees that truly collect it for the purpose of storing.

These insects are extremely handsome, their ground-colour being intensely black, brightly shining on the abdomen, upon the segments of which it is laterally ornamented with silvery pubescent tufts and spots; the black legs are also variously ringed with similar silver down. The great variation these spots and markings undergo—from what cause we know not—has induced several entomologists to consider them as distinct species. But the strongest varieties so rarely recur with identical ornaments, and as almost all can be closely connected together in a regular series by interlacing differences impossible to divide, it would be certainly incorrect, without stronger characteristics, to raise such fugitive variations to specific rank. Whether the curious spines of the scutellum which they possess furnish a more certain character is doubtful, for we find all such processes equally liable to variation in size and form. What can be the uses of these spines? They can hardly be for defence, although an entomologist has said that a male which he held endeavoured to pinch by that means. We find similar processes in the same situation in Coelioxys, equally a parasitical genus; but the former genus infests the Scopulipedes and the latter the Dasygasters, whose economies are so very different, and thus it can hardly be supposed to have reference to habits. In Epeolus and Stelis the same part is mucronated, a tendency to which we see in the NomadÆ with subclavate antennÆ. Under Anthophora I have given an account of the pugnacious spirit of these insects in their contests with the sitos, and it is necessary to be cautious in handling them, as they sting very severely. Our two native species are parasitical upon the two species of the first division of Anthophora,—those which are gregarious. The circumstance of Melecta being often caught with many of the extremely young larvÆ of MeloË upon it seems to confirm the fact of this coleopterous insect preying upon Anthophora, as it may be thus assumed to prey simultaneously upon the larva of Melecta. I have never captured these insects upon flowers, nor can I trace what flowers they frequent, although Latreille tells us, in the name he has imposed, that they are honey collectors; but Curtis reports that he has found the genus upon the common furze or whin (Ulex EuropÆus).

Gen. Char.: Body glabrous. Head transverse, vertex convex; ocelli placed in a triangle on its summit; antennÆ short, linear, the joints of the flagellum subequal; face flat, carinated longitudinally in its centre between the insertion of the antennÆ; clypeus transverse, lunulate, convex, margined anteriorly; labrum transversely ovate, with a small process in the centre in front; mandibles bidentate, the internal tooth minute, the external robust and broad; tongue rather long, more than twice the length of the labium, tapering to its extremity; paraglossÆ short, about one-fourth the length of the tongue, broad at the base, and acuminate towards the apex; labial palpi more than half the length of the tongue, the basal joint longer than the three following, membranous, and gradually decreasing to the second, which is one-third the length of the first, and acute at its apex, where the third subclavate joint is articulated, the terminal joint considerably shorter than the third; labium not more than one-third the length of the tongue, and trifid at its inosculation, the central division being hastate; maxillÆ subhastate, more than one-half the length of the tongue; maxillary palpi consisting of one robust short conical joint inserted in a deep circular receptacle. Thorax subglobose; prothorax conspicuous, with its lateral angles slightly prominent; mesothorax with its bosses prominent; wing-scales large; scutellum transverse, gibbous, margined posteriorly, slightly mucronated laterally, slightly depressed in the centre, and impending over the post-scutellum, which is inapparent; metathorax abruptly truncated; wings with three submarginal cells, and a fourth feebly commenced, the first as long as the two following, the second subtriangular, and receiving the first recurrent nervure about its centre, and the third lunulate, and receiving the second recurrent nervure also about the centre; legs short, stout, the tibiÆ slightly spinulose externally; claws very small, short, robust and simple. Abdomen obtusely conical, truncated at the base, its terminal segment triangular, and the lateral margins slightly reflected.

The MALE scarcely differs, excepting in the usual male characteristics, and that the apical segment of the abdomen is rounded and margined.

It is difficult to assign a reason for the name of this genus, or to trace an applicable derivation from ?p?a???, for the insect in no way suits, either directly or by anti-phrase, any of the significations of this word. It is one of the prettiest of our little bees, and is parasitical upon the Colletes Daviesiana, and it may be found in abundance wherever the metropolis of this species occurs. There is one special locality near Bexley, in Kent, a vertical sandbank within a few hundred yards of the village, where I have always found it in the spring months, and have there taken it as numerously as I wished. I have already alluded, in another part of this work, to the uniformly greater beauty of the parasitical bees, to those which they infest, and their exceedingly different appearance in every case excepting in that of the genus Apathus. We might have expected that they would have been disguised like these, the better to carry on their nefarious practices, but what can well be more dissimilar than Epeolus and Colletes, or than Nomada and all its supporters, and the same of Melecta, Coelioxys, and Stelis. These facts puzzle investigation for a reason; nor will the perplexity be speedily solved. All that we can surmise is that there must be a motive for it, for wherever we successfully elicit her secret from the veiled goddess, we invariably find the reason founded in profound wisdom. In some cases the mystery seems devised to test our sagacity, but it cannot be so here, for the most palpable and plausible cause that would suggest itself in the supposition of its being for the guardianship and apprisal of the sitos is often contravened, as in this instance, by it and its parasite living in great harmony together, again by the desertion of its nidus by Eucera in favour of the parasite, although itself is a very much more powerful insect; but in the cases of Panurgus, Halictus, and Andrena, they all live well reconciled to the intrusion of the stranger’s young, and this, without their enumeration, may be adopted as nearly the universal case. The hostility of Anthophora, previously noticed, is an almost insulated case of the contrary. The form of these insects does not promise much activity, and we accordingly find that they are slow, heavy, and indolent; yet they must be cautiously handled, for they sting acutely; but indeed it is not well ever to handle insects whose markings, as we find them in these, consist of a close nap, as evanescent as the down upon a plum, and of course the fingers carry it readily off, and disfigure the beauty of the little specimen. When their special habitat is not known they may often be found upon the blossoming Ragwort in the vicinity, or upon the Mouse-ear Hawkweed (Hieracium murorum) within whose flowers they are frequently observed enjoying their siesta.

Gen. Char.: Body glabrous, much punctured. Head transverse, curving posteriorly to the thorax, where it is angulated laterally; ocelli in a triangle at the summit of the vertex; antennÆ short, slender, filiform, scarcely geniculated, the scape about as long as the three first joints of the flagellum, all the joints of which are subequal but slightly increasing in length towards the apical one, which is a little compressed laterally; face entirely flat; clypeus transverse, rather convex; labrum elongate, convex; mandibles robust, tridentate, the external tooth considerably the stoutest; cibarial apparatus long, tongue three times as long as the labium, slightly inflated in the centre, and terminating in a small knob; paraglossÆ very short, not more than one-sixth the length of the tongue and acuminate; labial palpi about two-thirds the length of the tongue, the two first joints membranous, the basal one the most robust, and both tapering to an acute apex, shortly before which the two very short subclavate terminal joints articulate; labium about one-third the length of the tongue, its inosculation trifid, the central division considerably the longest and truncated at its extremity; maxillÆ subhastate, nearly as long as the tongue, acutely acuminated towards their apex; maxillary palpi very short, two-jointed, the basal joint subclavate and slightly the longest, and inserted in a circular cavity, the terminal joint short ovate. Thorax subglobose; prothorax inconspicuous; mesothorax very convex; scutellum lunulate, very gibbous, and impending over the post-scutellum and metathorax, mucronated laterally; metathorax abruptly truncated; wings with two submarginal cells, and a third very slightly commenced, the two subequal, the second being the largest and receiving the first submarginal cell near its commencement and the second at the inosculation of the terminal transverso-cubital nervure; legs short, moderately stout, the tibiÆ very slightly setose externally; claws short, bifid, the internal tooth near the external. Abdomen oblong, truncated at its base, very convex above and flat beneath, deflexed towards its extremity, and the terminal segment almost rounded, being very slightly produced in the centre and margined.

The MALE scarcely differs, excepting in the usual male characteristics, and by the apical segment being obsoletely tridentate.

The name of this genus may be derived from ste???, a sort of parasitical plant, perhaps mistletoe, if we could be sure that Panzer imposed it after being aware of the parasitical nature of these bees. It is true his book (the ‘Revision’) was published in 1805, and Kirby, who first intimated a suspicion of such cuckoo-like habits in some of the bees, published his in 1802; therefore it might have been given in allusion to that peculiarity of their economy, but it may also be from st????, a little column, in application to their cylindrical form. In but few of the parasitical bees do we know the precise nature of their transformations, I have therefore been obliged to be silent upon this point of their natural history, and I have nothing to state of its nature in these, although I expect there is much uniformity with but slight modifications in all. The species of this genus are parasitical upon the OsmiÆ; thus the S. phÆoptera is found to infest the O. fulviventris, and the S. octomaculata intrudes itself into the nests of O. leucomelana, both of which occur tolerably abundantly near Bristol. I have no doubt that the south-west and west of England, if well searched, would yield many choice insects.

It is singular that bee-parasitism does not prevail throughout all the genera of bees, some being subject to it and others not. Thus the genera Colletes, Andrena, Halictus, Panurgus, Eucera, Anthophora, Saropoda, Megachile, Osmia, and Bombus have all parasites, whereas the genera Cilissa, Macropis, Dasypoda, Ceratina, Anthidium, Chelostoma, Heriades, Anthocopa, and Apis have none, as far as we yet know; and some of the genera of parasites frequent two or more genera indifferently, whilst others are restricted to a single one; also some of the species of the parasitical genera infest indifferently several of the species of the genus to which their parasitism is mainly limited; other species have a more circumscribed range and do not visit the nests of more than a single species. What law may control all these seeming anomalies we cannot discover,—it may possibly be scent that guides them, and this may control their parasitism by indicating the species they are taught by their instinct to be most suitable from the quality of the pollen with which it supplies its own nest, to be that which is best adapted for the nurture of their young. It is not likely that we shall very speedily lift the veil from these mysteries, but they are suggestive of observation which in seeking one thing may fall upon another equally interesting.

I have usually caught these insects settled upon the leaves of shrubs, especially of fruit bushes, particularly that of the black currant, upon which, in a favourable locality, many bees, as well as numerous small fossorial Hymenoptera may be found in genial weather. I have never caught them upon flowers, nor do I know what flowers they frequent. The end of May, if warm, and throughout June, they are usually found most abundantly.

Gen. Char.: Body subglabrous. Head transverse, concave posteriorly to fit the anterior portion of the thorax; ocelli in a triangle on the vertex; antennÆ filiform, short, subgeniculated, the basal joint of the flagellum globose, the second subclavate, and all from the second subequal, the terminal joint compressed laterally; face flat, very pubescent; clypeus ovate, concavely truncated in front, its surface convex; labrum oblong, with its sides parallel, but with lateral processes at its articulation; mandibles broad, quadridentate; cibarial apparatus long, the tongue very long, nearly three times the length of the labium, linear but slightly inflated in the centre, and thence tapering to its extremity, and slightly covered with a very short down; paraglossÆ wholly wanting; labial palpi membranous, the two first joints long, the second slightly the longest, and both tapering to the extremity of the second, which is acute, and has the third joint, which is very short and subclavate, articulated before the extremity, with the terminal one of equal length, and rounded at the apex, appended to it; labium about one-third the length of the tongue, its inosculation trifid and equal, and the central division acute; maxillÆ subhastate and acuminate, not quite so long as the tongue; maxillary palpi very short, three-jointed, the basal joint the smallest, the second the most robust, and the terminal one ovate. Thorax subglobose; prothorax inconspicuous; mesothorax convex; wing-scales large; scutellum produced horizontally, and impending over the post-scutellum and metathorax, and having at each lateral extremity an acute, slightly-curved tooth projecting backwards; metathorax abruptly truncated; wings with two submarginal cells and a third commenced, the first slightly the longest, the second receiving both the recurrent nervures, the first near its commencement, and the second close to its termination; legs slender, spinulose externally on the tibiÆ; claws rather long, slender, and simple. Abdomen very conical, truncated at the base, its segments slightly constricted, the apical one long, superficially carinated longitudinally in the centre, and much deflexed.

The MALE scarcely differs, excepting that the whole of the front of the head is more densely pubescent; the mandibles are deeply, acutely, and nearly equally tridentate, the terminal segment of the abdomen is variously mucronated or toothed at its apex, these processes pointing backwards, and the penultimate segment is more or less produced laterally.

This genus is named from ?????a, belly, ????, acute, in application to the conical abdomen of the female. The insects of this genus are parasitical upon the genera Megachile and Saropoda. Thus, C. simplex infests M. circumcincta; C. rufescens, M. Willughbiella; C. vectis, M. maritima; and C. umbrina is parasitical on Saropoda bimaculata. LinnÆus, from the different appearance of the two sexes made two species of them, and from the circumstance of his having described first the male as Apis quadridentata, this, by the law of priority, supersedes the name of C. conica as the name of the species, which is its female, and which he next described, and thus that sex, whose form Latreille adopted as typical of the genus, is in the series of species totally superseded and reduced to a synonym. The species of this genus are extremely difficult to separate from each other, no tangible character presenting itself conspicuously, although the Swedish entomologist Nylander supposes he has found one in the plates of the apical segment of the abdomen, especially those of the venter, in which he detects both a difference of form and a difference of relative length to that of the superior plates, and in the males he assumes that the teeth of the apical segment are constant characters. Not having had sufficient opportunity since this supposed discovery was made, for the examination of a great multitude of specimens, for it is only upon such an investigation that it can be firmly based, I cannot speak corroboratively upon the point, but it is very possibly a correct solution of the difficulty.

The peculiarity of these spines at the apical segments of the abdomen of the males is remarkable, they being straight projecting processes, or they have even a slight upward bearing. In the males of Anthidium and Osmia we observe spines also arming the apex of the last segment, but in these we can trace an evident use, both from the downward curvature of the abdomen itself, and that same tendency also in the spines. But in the insects of this genus they have not the same conspicuously apparent object, the abdomen itself even having an upward curvature, or rather a greater facility for turning upwards than downwards. These insects appear to be most abundant in the midland and southern counties, and, according to Curtis, they are numerously found at the back of the Isle of Wight. I have usually taken them on the wing and never on a flower, and I do not know the plants which they may prefer.

Gen. Char.: Head as wide as the thorax, flat and broad on the vertex, where, on the anterior edge, the ocelli are disposed in a triangle; antennÆ shortish, filiform, geniculated; scape about as long as two first joints of flagellum, which increases both in length of joints and their substance from base to apex, the terminal one being the longest, and longitudinally compressed; face and clypeus very pubescent, concealing their divisions; clypeus transversely lunulate, scarcely convex; labrum longitudinally slightly convex and oblong, with the sides parallel; mandibles broad, widening outwardly, irregularly quadridental, the two inner teeth obtuse; cibarial apparatus moderately long; tongue more than twice the length of the labium, tapering from the base to the apex, where it terminates in a minute knob; paraglossÆ very short, scarcely one-sixth the length of the tongue, coadunate at the base and acuminate at the apex, where, in repose, they lap round the base of the tongue; labial palpi three-fourths the length of the tongue, the two basal joints long, subequal, membranous, linear, slightly tapering to the acute apex of the second, where the third subclavate joint articulates just before its termination, and conterminous with which is the fourth, shorter than the third, but also subclavate; labium not quite half the length of the tongue, with a long subobtuse process in the centre of its inosculation; maxillÆ subhastate, and very acuminate, nearly as long as the tongue; maxillary palpi very short, two-jointed, the basal joint the shortest, and the terminal one obtuse at its apex, where it is furnished with brief setÆ. Thorax subglobose, pubescent, the pubescence almost concealing its divisions; prothorax inconspicuous; mesothorax convex, subglabrous on the disk; scutellum, lunulate, convex; metathorax truncated; wings with two submarginal cells, the commencement of a third slightly indicated, the two complete ones nearly equal, the second of which receives both the recurrent nervures, one towards each extremity; legs robust, very setose; the posterior tibiÆ slightly curved longitudinally, concavo-convex, broad at the extremity; all the plantÆ as long as their tibiÆ and as broad at the base but decreasing at the apex to the width of the following tarsal joints, the anterior pair fimbriated externally, and the posterior pair clothed, on the inner surface, with a dense, short brush, the three following joints short, subequal, the claw-joint as long as the three, and the claws with a broad basal inner tooth. Abdomen ovate, with parallel sides, convex above, truncated and concave at its base to fit the metathorax, distended horizontally in length, or with an upward curve, the four first segments slightly constricted, and their edges usually clothed with decumbent down; the terminal segment obtusely pointed and slightly depressed transversely towards its extremity; the ventral segments commencing with the second, clothed with parallel layers of moderately long, straight setÆ, which in each parallel are of equal length, but those on the fifth segment are the shortest, upon all of which the insect conveys the pollen it collects.

The FEMALES of the second division of the genus scarcely differ.

The MALES of the first division differ in having the head slightly larger and squarer above; the antennÆ very slightly longer; the mandibles more acutely tridentate, with a distinct powerful basal tooth beneath, terminating the concavity of the organ; the anterior femora, tibiÆ, and joints of their tarsi, excepting the terminal one, concavo-convex, the four first joints of the latter distended laterally, and edged with a dense fringe of setÆ, the distension of these joints is widest at their articulation with the tibiÆ and they decline in length to the claw-joint which is long; the claws bifid; the interior claw acute, but remote from the apical one; the posterior femora are very robust, their tibiÆ, much curved, robust, almost triangular, and externally very convex; their plantÆ, almost glabrous, not so long as the three following joints, externally rather twisted, and beneath furnished with a dense brush of long stiff hair.

In the second division of the genus the males are destitute of the distension of the anterior tarsi, these being instead densely fimbriated externally; the legs in them are much less robust, and more closely resemble those of their females.

Named from the great development of the labrum, ??a large, ?e???? lip, which is characteristic of all the Dasygasters, and also of some of the proximate Nudipedes, those parasitical upon them, Stelis and Coelioxys, and which, too, resemble the sitos in the expansion and dentated formation of their mandibles, although they do not use them for the same purposes; this again exhibits an analogy of structure, that appears in the parasite to be merely corroborative of identity of existence.

These are more essentially summer insects than the majority of the preceding genera, although some of them present themselves with genial spring weather. The genus may be separated into two distinct divisions by the peculiar dilatation of the tarsi of the males of some of the species, but such division is not indicative of a difference of habits, as is distinctly the case in the genus Anthophora, and in which these combined circumstances Mr. Kirby suggested as acceptable for generic division, or, as he called it, the institution of another family. But in these we find in both divisions both wood-borers and earth-tunnelers, and some species are indifferently either as suits their accidental convenience. The general appearance of the insects is more that of ordinary bees, and the sexes are more approximate in their habit than is usually the case.

With this genus commences essentially those designated as artisan bees, although Colletes might very suitably come under that denomination. The species themselves of the genus are called leaf-cutters, from the habit they have of cutting pieces from the leaves of various shrubs and trees, for the purpose of lining their nests. The description of the operations of one species will apply precisely to that carried on by all, the occasional difference between them being the selection of the leaves of distinct plants; and it will exhibit the patient industry and perseverance with which these little upholsterers carry on their labours.

Thus M. centuncularis, the type of the genus, burrows in decaying wood or in brick walls, and sometimes also in the ground, and makes use of the cuttings of rose leaves,—not the petals,—and the leaves of the annual and perennial Mercury (Mercurialis annua and M. perennis). The M. ligniseca bores into sound Oak and the Mountain Ash, as well as into putrescent Elm, and uses Elm leaves to line its nests, sometimes called centunculi from their being as it were patched together. This is the largest of all our species, and is found very abundantly everywhere around London frequenting the flowers of the Thistle. The M. argentata, Fab., or Leachella of Kirby, is perhaps the prettiest of all the species, and forms its tunnels in sandbanks. I do not know what leaves this species selects, which used to be extremely rare, indeed for a long time only known by the specimen in the British Museum, until that ardent entomologist the Rev. F. W. Hope, to whom the University of Oxford owes its superb entomological collection, brought it in abundance from Southend, where, during his brief annual stay at his residence there, he used to find it in the grove which runs under the cliff edging the terrace of the village; it is extremely local, as that and Weybridge, in Surrey, are the only two spots where I have known it to be found. It is one of the most vivid fliers among the bees, and darts about, especially during brilliant sunshine in June, with the velocity of a sand-martin, and its note is shrill, but harmonious; it is not often caught upon flowers, being so extremely alert, but has been seen to visit the common Viper’s Bugloss (Echium vulgare). The M. odontura, the last of the second division, which is known only in a single male specimen in the cabinets of the British Museum, is one of Dr. Leach’s west country captures, of which nothing precise is known, and it is only noticed here on account of the singular peculiarity of the armature of the apex of its abdomen, which brings it closer to the genus Osmia in that particular, although the majority of the males of the genus have the terminal segment slightly furcated.

In these observations I have commenced with the division which contains the type, and to which the present name of the genus would attach from that circumstance, were it ever thought desirable to separate those species, which have dilated anterior tarsi in the males, into a distinct genus, but which I could scarcely recommend. In the arrangement of the species in the preceding list, I have placed these latter first, from their more symmetrical appearance in the cabinet, by leading down to the terminal smaller species in due order, from these larger and more conspicuous ones.

The M. Willughbiella and maritima prefer decaying wood, and they have been found upon decaying Willows in the Midland Counties in extreme abundance; they might be called gregarious were the material within which they burrow connected in a continuous plane. The M. Willughbiella makes use of the leaves of the Rose and of the Laburnum, but the M. maritima seems to prefer the leaves of the Sallow. The M. circumcincta invariably burrows in banks, confirming the semi-gregarious habits of the genus, where it forms large colonies, and it is only by accident that it constructs secluded and solitary nests; it also makes use of rose leaves for lining its apartments. The insects are subject to the molestation of bee-parasites of the genus Coelioxys, the C. quadridentata having been bred from the cells of this latter species,—that parasite also frequenting the M. Willughbiella, and the C. vectis is well known to infest the M. maritima. Thus, it appears to be only the species of this division with the dilated tarsi that are exposed to such incursions, there being no record of parasites frequenting the division in which the males have simple anterior tarsi. Besides this bee-parasite, they are also subject to the attacks of some dipterous insect, whose larvÆ destroy the larvÆ of the Megachile. Much difficulty exists in separating the females of some of the species from each other; in others the specific character is sufficiently noticeable. It is a singular concomitant that those males with the dilated anterior tarsi have the apical joint of the flagellum of the antennÆ considerably compressed and also dilated laterally.

The proceedings of these bees are very curious. Although the tubes they usually form are long, they are so constructed as not to branch far away from the exterior of the material into which they bore,—sound or putrescent wood or earth, or old mortar joining the bricks of walls,—if in the second material, they usually follow the putrescent vein, and their tunnel in every case is rarely further than an inch or an inch and a half from the external surface. Both the sides of the tube, and the cells they form within them, will necessarily vary in diameter and length with the size of the species, but in the larger species they are about an inch and a quarter long and half an inch in diameter. Some entomologists have surmised that different species use the leaves of different plants for lining their cells; this, however, is not strictly the case, as shown in the preceding remarks; but, although not so, the series of nests in the same tube are always lined with cuttings from the same plant; perhaps a varying caprice operates upon each day’s labours and changes the plant, influenced by the drift of the wind or some casual freak.

The cylindrical tube being prepared, which is done very similarly to the way in which it is practised by all the labouring genera, by the gradual removal of the particles of the wood, or sand, or earth of which it consists, the insect’s instinct prompts it to fly forth to obtain the requisite lining, that the lateral earth may not fall in, or the wood taint the store to be accumulated for the young, for it is before this is done that the upholstery is commenced. Having fixed upon the preferred plant, Rose-bush or Laburnum or Sallow, or whatever it may be, it alights upon the leaf, and fixing itself upon the edge, it holds it with three legs on each side, then using its mandibles as the cutter of silhouettes would his scissors, and, just as rapidly as he cuts out a profile, does this ingenious little creature ply the tools it is furnished with by nature. The oval or semicircular cutting being thus speedily dispatched, with the legs still clinging to the surfaces, the insect biting its way backwards, the piece cut off necessarily remains within the clutch of the legs, and, when about falling, the rejoicing labourer expands her wings and flies off with it with a hum of delightful triumph, the cutting being carried perpendicularly to her body. In a direct line she wings her way to the receptacle, and arrived at the mouth of the aperture within which she has to convey it, she rolls it to its requisite tubular form and thrusts it forward to the bottom of the cavity. The first piece for the lining of each cell is always oval and larger in proportion than the succeeding ones, which, to the number of three or four, are semicircular, the first piece having an extra use to serve in forming a concave bottom to the cavity. Having completed the requisite manipulation, for adjusting it to shape the external lining of the bottom and sides of the first cell, she withdraws backwards, again flies off, and, as if she had traced a trail in the air, or had marked its limpidity with a frothy surge, like that left in the wake of a ship, to note the road for her return, back she wends to the same plant, and proximately to the spot of her recent triumphant exploit renews the operation, but the result of which, this time, is to be semicircular. Home she flies again, and the arrangement within of this piece is different to that of the first, for this is simply tubular, and so placed that it imbricates with its cut margin within the serrated edge of the first and the third, and in case of a fourth the fourth also is similarly placed, so that one laps within the other, the edges of two of these cuttings never being conterminous. The number of the coatings is apparently regulated by the drier or moister condition of the substance in which the tunnel is drilled. Another duty has now to be performed, indeed, that for which all the preceding labours were undertaken,—the provision for its young, wherein it perpetuates its kind,—and thus on and on flows the wonderful stream of life, whose origin who shall estimate through the millennia it has hitherto so placidly and uniformly traversed, and whose termination who shall predict? Having completed the requisite store of honey mixed with pollen, this is carried to the brush with which the under side of the abdomen is furnished, by means of the posterior legs. The honey and pollen are gathered from different kinds of thistles, whence it acquires a reddish hue and looks almost like conserve of roses, and the nest is filled with it to within a line of its top; the egg is then deposited, but the coating of leaves, which enclose the cell completely, secures the store from lateral absorption, although the mixture is rather more fluid, consisting of a relatively greater quantity of honey than is usual, excepting perhaps in the case of Ceratina, and although no viscous secretion is used to bind the leaves together, which retain their position from merely lateral pressure. The cell has now to be closed, and the artificer knowing that the transverse section of the cylinder is circular, again flies forth, and without compass, but with all the accuracy with which Leonardo da Vinci struck a circle with his pencil, to testify his mastery, cuts the leaf again in that form, and as surely: and, three or four, or five or six times, repeats this operation, returning each time with each piece, so many having been variously observed. The separation between the cells being thus consolidated, it is further thickened by the lateral, spare, protruding edge of the leaf first introduced lapping over it. The whole process is again renewed in the same manner as at first, the bottom edge of the cutting of the external leaf is again curved to form a concave bottom to the next cell, and the sides are similarly formed, and each cell fits the preceding like the top of one thimble placed in the mouth of another. The repetition of all this is continued until the completion of the five or six cells necessary to fill the tube, when another is formed with the same routine, if her store of eggs is not exhausted; and the orifice of the tube, upon the completion of the last cell, which is closed in the usual way, is filled up with earth. Should any casualty interfere with her labours or temporarily derange their utility, without the obstruction being one that would permanently affect it, the remarkable patience and rapidity with which the repairs are effected, or the obstructions removed, is worthy of all admiration,—the st????, or love of offspring, being the predominant passion which overthrows and controls every difficulty.

When full fed, the larva spins a thick cocoon of silk, which is attached to the sides of the cell; the outer coating of this cocoon is of a coarser and browner silk than the interior, which is formed of very delicate threads of a slaty-whitish colour and of a close texture, and which is as lustrous as satin. The exact period of their evolution from this state is not recorded, but it is probable that they pass the winter enveloped in their cocoon as pupÆ, and in their season come forth the following year.

Gen. Char.: Body subglabrous. Head transverse, as wide as the thorax; ocelli in a triangle on the vertex, which is flat; antennÆ shortish, slender, filiform, subgeniculated; the scape stouter than the flagellum, subclavate, first joint of flagellum globose, the remainder subequal; face flat; clypeus triangular, truncated at its base, slightly rounded in front and convex; labrum longitudinally oblong, the sides parallel and concavo-convex; mandibles dilated at the apex, where they are quinque-dentate; the alternate teeth smallest; cibarial apparatus long; tongue very long, tapering to its extremity; paraglossÆ very short, one-sixth the length of the tongue, coadunate at the base and subhastate; labial palpi more than half the length of the tongue, the two first joints very long, the second the longest, and both tapering to the acute extremity of this, where, just before its apex, the third very short subclavate joint articulates with the still shorter terminal joint conterminous with it; labium one-third the length of the tongue, its inosculation with an acute projection in the centre; maxillÆ as long as the tongue, subhastate and acuminate; maxillary palpi springing from a deep sinus at its base, very short, two-jointed, the basal joint the shortest, and the second obtuse one terminating with a few rigid setÆ. Thorax subglobose; prothorax inconspicuous; mesathorax slightly convex, wing-scales large; scutellum lunulate, projecting and impending over the metathorax, which is truncated; wings with two submarginal cells, and a third indistinctly commenced, the second slightly the longest, and receiving the two recurrent nervures one at each extremity; legs moderate, subsetose, the tibiÆ fimbriated along the edges, the anterior spurs slightly palmated; the plantÆ of the four anterior pairs longer than their tibiÆ, but those of the posterior not quite so long, and all densely clothed all round with a brush of short close hair; the claws distinctly bifid. Abdomen semicircular, very convex; the base truncated and hollowed to fit the metathorax; the segments slightly constricted, the terminal segment transversely concave, and its apex terminating in three slight angles; the venter, which is flat, is densely clothed from the second segment with parallel layers of equal, moderately long, shining hair, the segment being distinctly indicated by these layers.

The MALE differs in being considerably larger; the mandibles merely tridentate; the legs longer and more robust; the tibiÆ and tarsi more densely fimbriated externally, and the tarsi relatively much longer; the abdomen densely edged laterally with short curled hair, the terminal segment with three processes, the lateral ones strong and curved internally, the central one shorter and straight, and the penultimate segment transversely concave, with a strong tooth on each side curved externally, and the venter glabrous beneath.

The generic name in this instance seems to be manufactured from the root ?????, a flower. I cannot trace any other derivation as it may not be attributed merely to the habits of the species in frequenting flowers, for is not this the prime function of all the bees, wherein they fulfil a most important office in the economy of nature? How easy might it have been to regulate that flowers should fertilize themselves, as many do without any extraneous intervention, but by this wise and benevolent ordination a tribe of sensitive creatures is introduced to be perpetuated by the perpetuation they supply to that which supports them, and in this circle of reciprocal good offices lend an additional charm to the genial seasons, by the animation which they give to the face of nature, in embellishing the plants they visit with their vivacity and music.

These bees are gay insects, for both sexes are richly spotted with yellow, and they present the single instance which occurs amongst our bees of the male being considerably the largest, and so boisterous is he in his amours that he forcibly conveys his partner to the upper regions of the air, where she is compelled to yield to his solicitations. His whole structure is fully adapted to carry out this violent abduction, as well in the length and power of his limbs as in the prehensile teeth with which the apex of his abdomen is armed.

We have but one species of the genus, although the southern parts of the Continent abound in them. The habits of ours differ very considerably from those of the preceding genus. First, in the peculiarity just described, and then in the formation of their nests. They do not, like the majority of the wild bees, excavate or bore a cavity for themselves, but take one already formed by the xylophagous larva of some considerable insect, such as Cerambyx moschatus, or Cossus ligniperda. This they line, to the depth suitable to them, with cottony down which they scrape from the leaves or stalk of the Woolly Hedge-nettle (Stachys Germanica), the Wild Lychnis (Agrostemma), and other woolly-leaved plants. In collecting this wool the insect is very active, scraping it off rapidly with its broad mandibles, and as this is doing she gradually rolls it up into a little ball, making with the vibration of her wings a considerable hum all the time she is gathering it, and when the ball is sufficiently large she flies off with it to her nidus; this operation she continues until sufficient is accumulated for her purpose, which consists in lining the cavity with the material; she then forms cells within it in succession, gluing the same material together to resist the escape of the mixed store of pollen and honey she intends to fill it with, having in the operation smoothed the sides of the cell which is closed after the deposit of the egg, and another similar cell is then proceeded with, and this is repeated until the selected cavity is filled, or that she has exhausted her store. Having completed her labours, she wanders away. Sometimes the cavity is large and admits of the conjunction of many of these cells together; in that case they are all collectively covered with the same envelope of downy substance. The larva, having consumed its entire store of food, spins a cocoon of brown silk wherein it remains throughout the winter, and with the evolution of spring, feeling its propulsive energy, it changes into the pupa. In June and July, but earlier if the weather be continuously warm, the imago comes forth in its maturity, to live its little life of labour intermingled with pleasure, and in its pleasing hum to give cheerful notification of its perfect satisfaction.

Gen. Char.: Body nearly glabrous and coarsely punctured. Head subglobose, rather wider than the thorax; ocelli in a triangle in the centre of the vertex, which is broad and slightly convex; antennÆ short, subclavate, geniculated, the scape nearly one-half the length of the flagellum and more robust; the first and second joint of the flagellum subclavate, the basal one the longest and most robust, the remainder short, subequal, and gradually enlarging to the apical one, which is obtuse and as long as the basal joint; face flat, slightly convex between the insertion of the antennÆ; cheeks large and protuberant; clypeus concave, projecting, lobated in front, where it is slightly emarginate in the centre; labrum elongate at its articulation, broader than beyond, and from this expansion immediately and abruptly contracting, from the inner angles of the contraction waving to about three-fourths its length, whence it is produced into an equal truncated oblong; mandibles bidentate, external tooth acute, inner one obtuse; cibarial apparatus long; the tongue twice the length of the labium, narrowest at its base and obtuse at the extremity, and clothed with short setÆ; paraglossÆ very short, coadunate at the base and acuminate; labial palpi two-thirds the length of the tongue, with the three first joints membranous and flat, conterminous and tapering to their extremity, the first joint about one-half the length of the second, the third twice the length of the fourth, which is clavate and articulated within the apex of the third; maxillÆ subhastate and acuminate, as long as the tongue; maxillary palpi very short, rather stout, the joints subequal and the terminal one acute. Thorax oval, convex; prothorax inconspicuous wing-scales rather large; scutellum transversely quadrate, convex; post-scutellum transverse, linear; metathorax gradually declining, with a glabrous triangular space at its base; wings with two submarginal cells nearly equal and a third commenced; the second receives both the recurrent nervures, the first beyond its commencement and the second before its termination; legs shortish, subsetose, the anterior spurs short, broad, and emarginate at the apex; the posterior plantÆ with a compact dense brush within; claw-joint long; claws simple. Abdomen longer than head and thorax, subclavate, convex above, retuse at the base, and the apical segment obtuse at its extremity, the venter flat, its segments clothed from the second with dense parallel brushes of longish hair for the conveyance of pollen.

The MALE differs in having the head less conspicuously globose; the cheeks less protuberant; the whole body more pilose, the anterior spurs robust, short, and abruptly obliquely truncated; the antennÆ slender, filiform, much longer than in the female, but not much longer than the head, and from the fourth to the ninth joints serratulate within, adapting it to a sharp curve; the abdomen being equal, cylindrical, retuse at its base, convex above, and flat on the venter, where it has a longitudinal deeply concave mucro in the centre of the second segment, which concavity runs along all the subsequent segments, and it is densely pilose on the fourth; the terminal dorsal segment being deeply emarginate in the centre and produced on each side into a broad obtuse process; the claws are more robust than in the female and bidentate; the posterior pair being subclavate, and their single tooth abruptly reflected.

These insects are named from ????, a forceps, and st?a, a mouth,—in allusion to the forcipate form of the mandibles, which are strong, and cross each other in inaction.

They and the next genus are styled carpenter bees, but they are not more consistently thus called than might be Anthophora furcata and the genus Ceratina; they, in fact, like the latter, just as often avail themselves of an empty straw to form their cells in, or the cylinder that has been drilled by some xylophagous beetle of their own size, as they themselves drill into palings and solid wood for the purpose, but when they do this, it is facilitated to them by their powerful mandibles and their square and strong head. They are certainly very compactly formed, their structure being indicative of great power, of course relatively to their size. When they drill their cylinders themselves they are extremely persevering in its execution, and in the process, the material they extract, which is like fine sawdust, they withdraw from the depth of the cavity by passing it beneath them, and pushing it out at the orifice by means of their posterior legs and the apex of the abdomen, for they are too long to be able to turn within the cavity they have formed, its capacity not being sufficient to permit this, as it is very little larger in diameter than themselves. I have repeatedly watched them in these operations.

Having found or drilled a suitable cylindrical tube, they do nothing further to it but collect a sufficient store of provender for the nutriment of the young one, upon which they deposit the egg which is to produce it. The insect then flies away to collect a small quantity of clay intermingled with sand, and this they knead together by means of a viscous secretion which they disgorge, and this forms a concrete that hardens firmly and rapidly; to anticipate its rapid drying they speedily fly back, carrying this small ball within their mandibles, and with it they cover over the provision they have collected, and which, adhering to the sides of the cavity, forms a firm and hard division, effectually separating it from the next store of provision that is to be accumulated for the supply of the larva that will be hatched from the egg that is to be deposited, and the same process is repeated again and again until all the eggs are laid. In their development, which takes place near midsummer, the males precede the females by about ten days. They associate sometimes in colonies, often using the tubes of the straw thatch which covers cottages for their nidus.

These bees are subject to the parasitical intrusion of Foenus jaculator and assectator, which I have repeatedly caught at Battersea, hovering opposite the cells of these insects bored in the shingles forming the enclosure of an old garden outhouse. These parasites are themselves peculiar creatures, forming a type distinct from the Ichneumons, and belonging to the group Aulacus, upon which see my paper in the ‘Entomologist,’ June, 1841. In these insects, the abdomen springs from immediately beneath the scutellum. Chrysis cyanea and ignita are also bred at the expense of these bees, neither of the species of which are uncommon; the smaller one, the C. campanularum, which is the smallest of our true bees, excepting perhaps one or two of the NomadÆ, I used to find in abundance upon the railings of the fields that skirt Hampstead Heath, on the right-hand going from London, parallel with the Vale of Health, and thence rising to the Holly enclosure of the Earl of Mansfield’s mansion. This spot has been productive to me of many very choice aculeate Hymenoptera, and supplied me with them in abundance at a time when even the chief metropolitan collections were bare of them. It has also furnished me with several very desirable Diptera of extremely rare genera. The male of the larger species of this genus LinnÆus called florisomne, from its habit of curling up its abdomen and antennÆ, and passing the night in flowers. Those which they chiefly frequent are the species of Wallflower, and the Campanula, especially the round-leaved Throatwort.

Gen. Char.: Body glabrous and much punctured. Head globose and curving to the thorax posteriorly; ocelli in a triangle far forward on the vertex; antennÆ slightly subclavate, the scape not half so long as the flagellum, the first joint of which is robust, subclavate, and twice the length of the second, which, with the rest, are subequal, very slightly lengthening to the terminal one, which is as long as the basal one and laterally compressed; face slightly convex, cheeks large and convex; clypeus lunulate, convex, and with two minute central teeth on its front margin; labrum longitudinally oblong, rather broadest at the base and slightly waved laterally, concavo-convex and subemarginate at the apex; mandibles subequal, tridentate at the apex, and the central tooth obtuse; cibarial apparatus moderately long, tongue twice the length of the labium, with a small knob at its apex; paraglossÆ very short, almost obsolete, coadunate at the base; labial palpi two-thirds the length of the tongue, the two first joints membranous and long, the first one-third the length of the second, which tapers to its acute extremity, before the end of which the two terminal, subclavate, very short, subequal joints are inserted; labium half the length of the tongue, slightly produced in the centre of its inosculation; maxillÆ subhastate, two-thirds the length of the tongue; maxillary palpi three-jointed, short, robust, equal, and collectively subfusiform, the terminal one rather acute. Thorax globose; prothorax inconspicuous; scutellum lunulate; post-scutellum linear, transverse; metathorax declining; wings with two submarginal cells, and the commencement of a third indicated, the second larger than the first, subtriangular, and receiving both the recurrent nervures, one at each of its extremities; legs short, rather robust, subsetose and spinulose; posterior tibiÆ convex externally and with their plantÆ rugose, the latter covered beneath with a dense brush of short hair; claws simple. Abdomen cylindrical, convex above, retuse at the base, and the first and second segments slightly constricted at their extremity, obtuse, and from the end of the third segment sensibly declining to the apex; plane on the venter, where, from the second segment, the plate of each, excepting the glabrous terminal one, is covered with a dense brush of short hair for the conveyance of pollen.

The MALE differs in the antennÆ being rather longer, more distinctly filiform, the seventh segment of the abdomen concealed under the extremity of the sixth, and the venter from the third segment longitudinally deeply concave, the plate of the third itself covered with hair; the claws more robust and each equally bifid, not bidentate.

The names of insects are not always very aptly given, for the only available derivation of this appears to be from ?p???, 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.

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.

The MALE differs in having “the sixth segment of the abdomen emarginate, and with a strong tooth on each side; the terminal segment emarginate, thus producing two strong, lateral, obtuse teeth, the ventral plates of these same segments emarginate at the extremity, and the emargination fringed with hair; the claws bifid.”

Named by St. Fargeau from a????, a flower, and ??p?, a cutting or incision, from its habit of cutting sections out of the petals of the common scarlet poppy with which to line the cells it forms within the cylinder it excavates, just as Megachile does with the leaves of various plants. It is noticed as British upon the faith of the specimens introduced by Leach into the cabinets of the British Museum and presumptively caught in the west or south-west of England, a region rich in rarities. Rennie in fact tells us that he has found it at Largs, in Scotland. One of Leach’s specimens I received in exchange from that establishment in 1842, and which is now in the possession of Mr. Desvignes, to whom my collections passed in the following year. This genus forms a sort of combination between the genera Megachile and Osmia, it having the upholstering habits of the former in the mode with which it lines its nest, and the general habit of the latter. At a first glance, before its habits were known or its structure examined, even an experienced entomologist might have placed it under Osmia, as an unrecognised species, for it very strongly resembles the Osmia leucomelana. This proves how very inconclusive habit is as an index to habits, the latter of these insects drilling into the pith of brambles, and the Anthocopa tunnelling cylinders into the hardest trodden roads or pathways and lining them with its crimson hangings.

From the extreme rarity of the insect, I have been unable to examine the cibarial apparatus, and thence to ascertain upon what substantial grounds the generic distinctions are based, which separate it from Osmia. Whether it was these mere habits of the insect which induced Le Pelletier de St. Fargeau to establish the genus I do not know, but he is always extremely slovenly, and therefore very unsatisfactory in his characteristics, which are never framed in a strictly explicit manner. In consequence of all these difficulties, I have merely been able under the generic character to introduce such as he has given, which I could not derive from the personal external inspection of Mr. Desvignes’ female (my own selection of whose bees for the purposes of this work he has been so kind as to lend me, and whom I thus publicly present with my best thanks). I have therefore compounded a character as well as I could from St. Fargeau’s descriptions, inserted in the tenth volume of the ‘EncyclopÉdie MÉthodique,’ and from his work on the Hymenoptera, forming one of the ‘Suites À Buffon.’

The habits of these bees, as said above, are to excavate vertical cylinders in hard down-trodden pathways and roads, by the sides of fields where corn is grown, and where consequently the common red poppy is abundant. From the petals of the flowers of this plant they cut out semicircular pieces, precisely as is done by Megachile with the more rigid leaves of shrubs and trees, and convey them home and line their nests with them, just as is practised by that genus with those leaves,—with this difference merely, that a sufficient portion of the upper edge of the pieces of the petals used is left projecting, for the purpose of forming a covercle to the nidus, and which, when filled with provender and the egg deposited, is refolded over it and covered in, and it is closed up with earth. They then proceed to make another excavation, which is treated in the same manner, for they deposit only one larva in a tube. If disturbed in their retreat, they will show themselves at its mouth, like Dasypoda, to see what is the matter.

I would urge our collecting entomologists, especially those who have the opportunity of hunting up the west of England, to use due diligence and strive to confirm the native existence of this bee and add specimens to the cabinets of their fellow-entomologists.

Gen. Char.: Head subglobose, concave, posteriorly fitting the prothorax and about as wide as the thorax; ocelli placed far forward on the vertex, which is wide and convex, in a curved line; antennÆ filiform, sometimes subclavate, short, and geniculated, the scape robust, as long as the four following joints, the basal joint of the flagellum globose, its second joint clavate and as long as the terminal one, the remainder short, subequal, and gradually but slightly increasing in length; the face flattish; the clypeus a truncated triangle, convex; labrum longitudinally oblong, a little laterally distended at the articulation, from whence the sides are parallel; mandibles broad at the apex, obscurely tridentate, the internal teeth obtuse and short; cibarial apparatus long; the tongue three times the length of the labium, clothed with short hair and tapering from the base to the acute apex; paraglossÆ very short, coadunate at the base and acuminate at the apex; labial palpi more than half the length of the tongue, the two first joints membranous and long, the basal one the broadest, seated on a petiole and not so long as the second, which tapers to an acute point, before the apex of which the remaining two short subclavate conterminous joints articulate; labium about one-third the length of the tongue, acutely produced in the centre of its inosculation; maxillÆ as long as the tongue, subhastate and acuminate; maxillary palpi four-jointed, rather short, the joints subequal and subclavate, but the second is both the most robust and slightly the longest. Thorax oval or globose; prothorax inconspicuous; scutellum lunulate and convex; post-scutellum transverse and linear; the metathorax abruptly truncated; wings with two submarginal cells, and a third distinctly commenced, the second the longest, and receiving both the recurrent nervures, the first towards its centre and the second near its termination; legs moderate, setose, the plantÆ of all with a dense brush beneath; claw-joint longer than the three preceding; claws simple. Abdomen short, cylindrical, convex, the terminal segment slightly pointed, the ventral segments densely pilose in parallel lines from the second.

The MALE differs in having the antennÆ longer and always filiform, the ventral segments very concave, and the terminal dorsal segment variously mucronated, tuberculated, spinose or serrated, and the claws bifid.

Named from ?s?, sweet-scent, from some fancied idea of their possessing the property of emitting a sweet odour; but this, although it is the case with many of the bees,—for instance, with the genera Prosopis, Halictus, Nomada, some of the AnthophorÆ, Saropoda, and the male Bombi and Apathi,—I have not noticed in any of this subsection, the Dasygasters, and therefore not in any of the present genus. It is possible that when richly laden with pollen, this may emit some smell, but I am not aware that any of the scent of flowers lies in the anthers or their pollen, although this in some cases has a spermatic odour pointing to its express function; but be this as it may, such is their name. These as a group are what are called the ‘Mason Bees,’ from the habit they have of agglutinating particles of sand or earth mixed with minute pebbles, scarcely larger than grains of sand, or raspings of wood combined in the same manner, with a secretion which they emit, and of which they form their cells. The instinct of the creature prompts it to be speedy in the operation, as the material, like plaster of Paris, dries very rapidly to a hard substance. Whether they have the power of softening the edges as the manufacture of the cell proceeds is not known, nor whether, as they add the material, it instantaneously consolidates itself, but the colour of the structures themselves would indicate a simultaneous mixture. This could not be the case, if the mortar or mixture were formed away from the domicile and brought home in little pellets, each being added upon the insects’ arrival, although they obtain it all from the same spot, whence arises its uniformity in colour, and they are speedy in the formation of their nests. These cells are rather rough externally, according to the nature of the material of which they are composed, but they are very smooth within. The nature of the cells varies with the places of their deposit, which is dependent upon the idiosyncrasy of the species. Thus, those which construct their cells in wood, form them of moistened particles of wood, and those which make them in cavities of any kind, in the earth, beneath stones, or within empty snail-shells, make a mortar of earth and sand and small pebbles. Some are strictly uniform in the selection of the material wherein they build, but others are perfectly indifferent to its locality, and adopt either earth or wood, and sometimes the mortar of walls, sandbanks or chalk cliffs. According to the nature or the size of the receptacle which they select, is the adjustment of these cells. Where the cavity is restricted they place them end to end, but where it is more roomy they affix them side to side, completely adapting themselves to the circumstances of the locality as I shall instance below, in the description of the special habits of the more conspicuous species. I have elsewhere referred to the metallic colouring of many of the species of this genus, and amongst them is found the greatest sexual disparity of personal appearance, the O. leucomelana, and one or two of the neighbouring species being, perhaps, the only ones wherein uniformity of appearance would unite the partners together. The majority are very pubescent insects, and the females of the terminal species in the foregoing list are remarkable for a couple of inwardly curved horns, springing from the base of the clypeus just below the insertion of the antennÆ, an appendage usually a male attribute.

There is very great dissimilarity in the habits of the various species, whence no single characteristic will embrace them, nor is there any distinctive feature whereby the genus might bear subdivision, either from habits or habit, as will be collected from the following cursory survey of their special natural history.

Thus the first species, the O. leucomelana, named so from the white decumbent down which edges the black segments of the abdomen, extracts the pith from bramble sticks, and its cells are formed and closed with a composition made of triturated wood or leaves. The cylinders it forms are usually about five inches deep, and within this it constructs about the same number of cells proportionate to the small size of the insect. These are midsummer insects, coming forth in June and July; they are very local, but seem to abound in the vicinity of Bristol, whence Mr. Thwaites formerly sent me specimens. A very few days serve for the hatching of the larva, which spins a slight silken cocoon, and in this dormitory it reposes until its season again comes round. Under the influence of the following first genial spring weather, the larva is transmuted into the pupa, and the active little imago comes forth upon the settlement of our variable spring, in the merry days of June, and thus is perpetuated the circle of its existence, but which is sometimes abridged by its special parasite, the pretty little Stelis octomaculata. Many of the species in the males are distinguished by a peculiar armature of the apex of the abdomen; the second being named by Kirby from the circumstance. A very remarkable singularity distinguishes the males of the third species, in the fringe of short hair that runs along the flagellum of its antennÆ. This, I believe, was first noticed by the late Mr. Bainbridge, a very active practical entomologist, who took the insect at Darenth or Birchwood, and distributed specimens with this manuscript name attached, which has since been appropriated by another entomologist to whom the science was wholly unknown at that time, but as it is scarcely consistent with scientific courtesy to adopt such a course, and as the MS. names of LinnÆus and Kirby have been retained, where it was authorized by their being attached to undescribed species, I have restored to Mr. Bainbridge his just rights, and have claimed the same for myself, in the case of Andrena longipes, and which many cabinets must still possess with my name attached, in my own writing, unless their possessors have chosen to adopt the illegitimate parentage; for the entomologists of my own standing well know that I always freely distributed specimens to all who desired them of the many very desirable insects which I have captured in the course of my entomological career. The fourth and the ninth species, the O. bicolor and O. aurulenta, have very much the same habits, both usually burrowing in sandbanks, sometimes however in wood, in which case the perforation, contrary to the mode of wood-drilling bees, is made upwards, a sagacity or instinct which saves it much trouble, for the particles as they are removed by the mandibles are passed beneath the insect, and their own gravity carries them downwards, and thus the insect saves itself the labour of conveying them out as they accumulate in inconvenient quantities. The cells in this case are placed end to end. When they burrow in the earth, the latter species often associate gregariously in large numbers, and if they select a cavity, instead of tunnelling it themselves, and it be too large to take one cell upon the others, they form them side by side, and thus fill the space. This is the case when they adopt snail-shells as the receptacle for their incunabula, and this is done by both these species, and the shells they select are the empty ones of Helix nemoralis, hortensis, and adspersa. The capacity of the latter shell being much greater than that of the others, and too wide for a single succession, she fills the interval by placing them side by side, and with the increase of the whorl of the shell towards its orifice she places them across the space, and thus completes her task. In the former shells, the cavity at first admits of the succession of but one upon the other, but with its enlargement she places them side by side, and this repeated fills the hollow. Its aperture is then closed with earth and pebbles or sticks agglutinated together, as described at the commencement. The O. fulviventris burrows in wood, and upon this species the Stelis phÆoptera is parasitical; and that very pretty but extremely common species the O. Ænea, in which the male is of a rich bronzy tint, and the female of a beautiful blue, verging sometimes to nearly black, burrows also in wood, although sometimes it capriciously selects old walls or chalk-cliffs, and is subject to the incursions of the same parasite. Perhaps the most extraordinary species is the O. parietina, figured and named by Curtis, and which he first found at Ambleside; it has since been found in the Grampians very considerably above the level of the sea, and it is thus essentially a northern species both from altitude and locality. It would appear that this species selects some flat stone of about a foot in surface, lying upon the ground over a hollow spot. Such a specimen, sent to the British Museum, had attached to its under side two hundred and thirty cocoons, indicative of a considerable colony, or perhaps the accumulation of successive years, as one-third of these cocoons were empty of tenants. These, in their new depository, continued developing themselves in the perfect state between March and June, males appearing first. When the transformations of the season ceased, five-and-thirty were still left to present themselves another year, and the following spring these were developed; thus, including those which had already escaped when the stone and its treasure was secured, three successive seasons were occupied in their transmutations. It may be a species that requires three years for its metamorphosis, and the whole deposit of cocoons may have been the result of three years’ accumulative structure, the vital activity of their northern life being perhaps more sluggish than in species frequenting the south. The last species the O. rufa, that in which the female is remarkable for its inverted horns, which must be for some use in its economy, is perhaps the most common of all. I have found it in abundance upon old walls with a sunny aspect at Erith, and throughout the pleasant Crays of Kent. It is indifferent as to the choice of its domicile, selecting either walls, where I have chiefly found them, sandbanks, or the decaying stumps of pollard-willows. Its processes are similar to those of some of the earlier described, but its larva is longer in full feeding, which, when it has consumed all its provender spins a tough cocoon of brown silk, wherein it undergoes its changes; some, depending much upon locality, pass into pupÆ in the autumn, others hibernate as larvÆ which are subject to destruction from the attacks of the Chalcideous insect, Monodontomerus dentipes, previously noticed under Anthophora. Some of the ChrysididÆ also infest several of the species of this genus, and I have no doubt that Stelis aterrima is parasitical upon one of them, although it has not been recorded. The various species frequent many flowers, especially those abundant in the locality they inhabit, but the O. pilicornis chiefly affects the common Bugle (Ajuga reptans), and they much frequent composite flowers, especially the species of the genus Hieracium.

Gen. Char.: Body subhirsute. Head subglobose; vertex broad, glabrous, with a deeply impressed cross upon its summit, in the centre of which the ocelli are placed in an almost straight line and contiguously; antennÆ short, filiform, geniculated, the scape slightly curved, the basal joint of the flagellum subglobose, its second joint as long as the terminal one and subclavate, the rest short, subequal, but gradually increasing in length to the terminal one, which is laterally compressed; the face flat; clypeus transversely lunate but straight in front; labrum lunulate, tuberculated laterally; mandibles broad and obscurely bidentate; cibarial apparatus moderate; tongue twice the length of the labium, tapering from base to apex, where it terminates in a small knob, and is clothed with short hair; paraglossÆ obsolete; labial palpi as long as the tongue, the two first joints long and membranous and tapering to the apex of the second, which is acute, and about one-fourth the length of the first, it has the two very short, subclavate, terminal joints, which are conterminous, and articulated just before its acute apex; maxillÆ subhastate and acuminate; maxillary palpi very short, linear, and equal. Thorax globose, pubescent, concealing its divisions; metathorax truncated; wings with three submarginal cells nearly equal, or the third the largest, the second receiving the first recurrent nervure at about one-third its length, and the second is received by the third submarginal cell near its extremity; legs setose; the posterior tibiÆ convex, very slightly enlarging from base to apex, rounded at the extremity externally, and unfurnished with means to convey pollen; posterior plantÆ oblong, narrowly equal, and not auriculated; claws bifid. Abdomen ovate, convex above, deflecting toward its extremity, and subglabrous on the disk, the terminal dorsal segment triangular, and its ventral plate straight at its apex with the lateral angles reflected, making it concave beneath and subcarinated longitudinally in the centre, or also triangular and the sides of the prominent angle deflected.

The MALE differs in having the antennÆ slightly longer, in being rather more pubescent, more highly and rather differently coloured, and its terminal segment merely rounded.

Named from a, privative, p????, affection; that is to say, without affection, from their habit of leaving their young to be nurtured by others, in allusion to their parasitical instincts, for the young of these bees are brought up in the nests of the Bombi. They form the only instance in bee-parasitism of the parasite closely, or nearly so, resembling its sitos, if not always in colour, certainly in habit. Having no labours to undergo they consist of merely males and females, but the latter, although very like the large female Bombi, are much less pubescent than these, for they have a broad disk, upon the upper surface of the abdomen, always smooth and shining. Both sexes appear to have free in- and egress to the nests of those Bombi which they infest, without any let or hindrance on the part of the latter, with whom they seem to dwell in perfect amity. In the times of their appearance they closely resemble the Halicti and the neighbouring Bombi. Thus the females, after impregnation in the autumn, having hibernated during the winter in selected receptacles, come out with the first gleams of spring conjunctively with the large maternal Bombi, in whose nests they have taken their long repose in perfect torpidity; and as soon as these begin to accumulate the masses of conglomerated honey and pollen whereon to deposit their eggs, the parasite takes advantage of it, lays her eggs too, and thus secures food for her offspring. There being two broods of them in the year, many are gradually developed with the advance of summer, but the great hatching takes place in the autumn, when the thistles are in blossom. Then both males and females come forth in abundance, the latter are made fertile, and their partners enjoy the brief interval of the still blossoming flowers until the usual period is put to their existence by natural decay, the first frosts, or the rapacity of insectivorous birds. Connected with this last circumstance I have a personal experience to record, and which its repetition would indicate as being one of Nature’s prompting acts. A lofty sandy level, very near the high-road which leads at the upper part of Hampstead Heath, to Highgate, from which road it was separated by merely a band of whins and coarse grass, used to be a very favourite collecting place of mine, for there, and in its immediate vicinity, I have often caught, within a very brief period, more than half the genera, and a very large number of the species of the fossorial Hymenoptera. One particular little spot was inhabited by Psen equestris, rare everywhere else, and our largest Cerceris, who carried on their instinctive pursuits during all the summer months, but at a particular time in the autumn, varying slightly with the nature of the season, a flock of wagtails (Motacilla) would alight and make brief work of those fossores which were still aflight; and this was repeated season after season, as if the wagtails thought it was time that their own rapacity should stop the course of these predacious insects. But to return, the female Apathi then resort to the nests of the Bombi whence they have issued, and lay themselves up in their winter dormitory. That this must take place speedily after impregnation is rendered almost conclusive by the fine state in which their pubescence appears in the spring, which would be tarnished did they loiter about visiting flowers previous to their return home. But the labours of the female and neuter Bombi themselves are now over, and they would therefore find no store whereon to deposit their eggs. The parasitical allocation of these insects is as follows. Apathus rupestris infests Bombus lapidarius; A. vestalis the B. terrestris, and this forms an instance in which the parasite is not clothed in the colours of its sitos. But A. Barbutellus has a wide range, for it frequents the nests of B. pratorum, B. Derhamellus, and B. Skrimshiranus.

Gen. Char.: Body densely hirsute. Head small, subglobose, not so wide as the thorax; the vertex glabrous, with a longitudinal, short, deep channel, crossed in its centre by a deeper transverse one, wherein the ocelli are disposed in a very slightly-curved line; antennÆ short, geniculated, and filiform; the scape half as long as the flagellum, the first joint of which is globose, the second subclavate, the rest short and subequal, and the terminal one compressed laterally; face flat, densely pubescent; clypeus subtriangular, gibbous, its base truncated, and apex convexly lobated, or straight and margined; labrum lunulate; mandibles broad at the base, and obscurely tridentate; cibarial apparatus moderate; tongue twice the length of the labium, clothed with pubescence to within a brief distance of its apex, and terminating in a small knob; paraglossÆ about one-fourth the length of the tongue, coadunate at the base, and acuminate; labial palpi three-fourths the length of the tongue, broad at the base, and tapering to the extremity of the acute apex of the second joint, which is about one-fifth the length of the first, the two terminal joints very short and articulated laterally just before the end of the second; labium one-half the length of the tongue, broadest at its base, and acutely produced in the centre of its inosculation; maxillÆ as long as the tongue, subhastate and acuminate; maxillary palpi two-jointed, short, sometimes equal, and slightly robust, or with the basal joint very robust, and its terminal joint twice as long and linear. Thorax globose, very hirsute, whence its divisions are inconspicuous; scutellum lunate; metathorax truncated; wings with three submarginal cells subequal, or the third the longest, and a fourth slightly commenced, the second receiving the first recurrent nervure near its centre, and the third receiving the second recurrent nervure close to its extremity; legs robust, pilose, the four anterior plantÆ with a dense, short, setose brush beneath; the posterior tibiÆ triangular, very smooth, and irregularly concave on their external surface, fringed with long pile along its two external edges, and its extremity tipped with a short pecten of stiff setÆ; the plantÆ elongate and broad, nearly equal, externally shagreened and spinulose, with a longish auriculated process at the external angle of the superior edge, a dense brush of short, stiff hair beneath, and a short pecten of stiff setÆ edging its subemarginate extremity; the claw-joint the longest of the four short subsequent joints, and the claws bifid. Abdomen ovate or globose, deflected towards its extremity, its base retuse, the last segment triangular, and terminating obtusely.

The MALE differs in always being more intensely coloured; in having the antennÆ distinctly longer, less distinctly geniculated, the scape shorter, the third joint of the flagellum almost as short as its basal joint, and the fourth as long as the terminal one, which latter two are the longest of all, and the joints from the fourth to the eleventh severally more or less slightly curved.

These, perhaps the most conspicuous of our native bees, certainly the largest, and probably the most generally known after the domestic bee, have their scientific generic name from ???, an imitative word, made to indicate the sound of the hum of the insects themselves. They have many popular names such as bumble bees, dumbledors, humble-bees, and in Scotland they are called foggie bees. They consist of three sexes, males, females, and neuters, which differ considerably in size, the females being very much the largest, and the neuters the smallest. Of course, individually, like all other insects, there is much variation among them in the intensity or diversity of the colouring of their pubescence, from which it is chiefly that they derive their specific distinctions; in the relative sizes of individuals also there are great differences. It is the males, as is usual among the bees, which are the gayest in their attire, and take the widest range of variation, and sometimes so much exceed the typical specific character in their markings as to require experience to identify them, and to place them correctly with their true species, which can only be ascertained with certainty by the examination of the male organs of generation, which differ in the various species, but are undeviating in their specific uniformity. Of this character, which I was the first to discover as being of specific value for critical determination in the separation of the species of very difficult insects, I was enabled to make important use in the genus Dorylus, in a monograph on the DorylidÆ, an exotic family proximate to the ants, and which was published in Taylor’s ‘Annals of Natural History’ for May, June, and July, 1840. The females and neuters of Bombus are less subject to such extensive dissimilarity, and may be usually associated, by their pubescence, in their legitimate groups. Form also frequently lends its aid as subsidiary to their specific identification.

These and Apis mellifica are our only social bees, which live in numerous communities under a kind of municipal government which is considerably less perfectly organized in the present genus than in the domestic bee, and thence they are called “villagers,” in contradistinction to the citizenship of the hive bee, earned by its comparatively metropolitan institutions, and the centralization of its government, which wholly emanates from the pervading influence of the queen upon the labours, and, indeed, upon the existence of her subjects. But the Bombi are under much less social restraint, and admit of several co-regents in the same community, without its being productive of any disturbance of social harmony. In the account of the genus Apathus, the last described, we have seen that the Bombi are subject to bee-parasites, which in some closely resemble the species they infest, and we have also shown there how these are distributed. The hive bee is not exposed to such intrusion, although, like these, they have many enemies. In the very earliest spring months these Bombi are abroad; for as soon as the catkins of the sallow are ripe for impregnation, they are on the wing. But it is now that the large females only are at work, for they have to create their companions before they can be surrounded by them. Their fruition is the result of the previous autumn’s amours, at a period too late to form sufficient stores for the numerous brood they will produce, and accordingly, after revelling in a brief honeymoon, they resort, like staid matrons, to a temporary domicile, some cavity just large enough for themselves. In this retirement they pass the cheerless wintry months, requiring perhaps the incubation of time thoroughly to mature their fruit. Whether this be the case or not, as soon as the earth begins to feel the warmth of the sun upon its return from its far southern journey, and to respond to the renewed vitality it gives to vegetation, these bees feel its active influence and come forth. With the progress of the spring and summer most flowers are exposed to their rifling, but they revel upon the elegant flowers of the Horse-chestnut, and their hum is the music of the lime when it is in blossom. According to the species, they select a cavity for their nest, or construct it upon the surface of the ground, this being the case with the CARDER-BEES, which gather moss to construct their residence. In those which inhabit beneath the surface, the selection of an already formed cavity greatly abridges their labour, and their instinct prompts them to choose one sufficiently large for the prospective community, but the nest itself is gradually extended in size suitable to their progressive increase in numbers. All that the parent female does at first is to form a receptacle sufficiently large for her first gatherings of pollen and honey, whereon to deposit her first eggs, and to form a waxen cruse or two to contain the honey requisite for the nest operations of keeping these masses moist enough for the nurture of the larvÆ. The material of these pots although called wax is not properly so, but is an agglutination of collected vegetable matter, for it is not plastic to the fingers like wax, and it burns, leaving a carbonaceous residuum very attractive to moisture. The larvÆ hatched from the eggs now deposited produce the first neuters, which spin a cocoon wherein they rapidly undergo their transformations. They are, in the first instance, aided to emerge from their silken cot by the parent gnawing off its top, but subsequently this duty is performed, as the family increases, by the neuters then developed. The young bee, on emerging from its cocoon, is not thoroughly hardened in its integument, and its pubescence also acquires by degrees only its proper colouring; all this is not long in being effected, but, until they are thoroughly able to fly forth, they continue to be fed by their elder sisterhood, for the neuters are properly abortive females. Males, and further productive females are produced later in the spring, and are smaller than the normal sizes of those sexes; the autumnal brood, consisting also of males and females, again resume the full size of the complete insect, and it is these females which, after impregnation, hibernate and reappear in the following early spring to be each the parent of a new progeny. The population of these nests varies considerably in the several species: in some, as in that of Bombus terrestris, there are more than two hundred, and in that of B. senilis there are about a hundred and forty; but it is in those that construct their nests above the ground that the fewest are found. As with the general population, so with the relative proportions of the sexes, the several species vary. Of course all these numbers are approximative only, as under certain conditions they will necessarily differ, nor are the general or relative numbers identical, even in the same species, in the same season, and in the same locality. The proportions are usually somewhat like this, about double the number of neuters to females, and nearly the same number of males as of females. In some of the communities there are even as few as twenty neuters, and these, of course, comprise those species which are most rarely found by collectors. The most pugnacious of all, and the fiercest in their attacks and most painful in their stings, are those which live underground or in cavities formed of accumulations of stones, and it is these which are the least constructive in their habitations, as if their truculent nature rejected the concomitants of incipient civilization; for it is those which build moss-nests, requiring a certain amount of skill, that are the most gentle in their habits. With the increase of numbers in the habitation, the rapidity of the labours progresses, and the accumulations quickly increase; but there is always opportunity for the entire community to find employment, either in enlarging their nests, when they build them, or in securing them from the intrusion of water, or repelling enemies, or feeding the young, and accumulating stores. In collecting pollen they are often covered as if they had rolled themselves in it, and this they brush from their hairy bodies chiefly with their posterior legs; sometimes they return in this disguised condition, and free themselves from it only at home; in other cases they bring it home collected in little masses upon the corbiculum, or basket, of the posterior shanks. They may be often caught thus laden, and I once captured a large female of B. terrestris, with the shanks and plantÆ of both intermediate and posterior legs covered with masses of thick clay, required doubtless at home for some domestic repairs. The instinct of these bees teaches them that where the tube of the flower is too narrow for the introduction of their body, and too long for even their long proboscis to reach the nectarium at the bottom, they may get at the honey by piercing a hole near that organ, which they know where to find, and thus they readily get at the treasure that they seek, lapping it through the aperture and carrying it off. If, in their collecting excursions, they are intercepted by heavy rains, or loiter far away too long until the twilight closes, they will pass the night away from home, and return laden with their gatherings as soon as the warmth of the sun reanimates them to activity; thus they will often sleep in flowers, and a nest therefore taken at night is not always a sure indication in those found within it, of its complete population. In their amours, the autumnal females evince considerable coquetry to attract their partners: they place themselves upon some branch in the most fervid sunshine, and here they practise their cajoleries in the vibrations of their wings, and allure them by their attractive postures. The males are simultaneously abroad, and soon perceive them. The seduction is complete, and they pounce down upon them with impetuosity, but their brief indulgence terminates in death, for with his abating vigour the female repulses him, and he falls to the ground never to take wing again. Amongst their insect enemies the Dipterous genera, Volucella and Conops, are very destructive to their larvÆ,—the first of these genera in its colouring greatly resembling the species upon which it preys. Foxes, weasels, field-mice, all prey upon them, and, like schoolboys, often destroy the bee for the sake of its honey-bag, an instance of which I have before recorded as illustrative of their endurance of the loss of a considerable portion of the body without its being fatal.

The most interesting part of their history is perhaps that upon which I have not yet enlarged, namely, the structure of their nests. This is particularly the case with the carder-bees, which felt and plait the filaments of moss to form its whole enclosure. Such species select a spot close to an abundant supply of the material; this they bite off and form pellets of. To these nests a moderately long arched passage is formed of the same material, of sufficient size to permit the free passage of the bees to and fro. This necessarily is shorter at first and leads to a smaller receptacle when the parent bee works alone. But as her offspring of workers increases, the passage is lengthened and the nest enlarged. To construct it, when in full activity, the bees form a chain, one behind the other, extending from the growing material to the entrance of their passage to the nest, all their heads being turned towards the moss and their backs to the nest. The first bites off the raw material, rolls it and twists it, and passes it to the second, by whom and the succeeding ones it undergoes further manipulation, and where the chain terminates at the commencement of the passage another bee receives it and conveys it along this into the interior, and then applies it itself or passes it to others thus employed where it is required. A vaulted covering and sides is thus formed or extended within the cavity by the plaiting or wreathing together of these sprigs of moss, and the inside of which is further strengthened by being plastered with a coating of the pseudo-wax, which, however, smells much like true wax, and with which the lower loose filaments of the moss are intermingled, that one cannot be separated from the other without tearing the whole to pieces. Thus ingeniously do these insects enclose their home. These nests are not always on the surface, but often cavities of the necessary size are thus lined, and then they are doubly secure. Within these nests, with the increase of the population the number of the cocoons of course increases, as they are never used twice over, excepting that when they are conveniently situated for the purpose they are converted into honey pots. Thus sometimes several layers are formed of these irregularly-placed cocoons, of which the longest diameter is, however, always perpendicular to the horizon. In this way B. muscorum, senilis, fragrans, and others build. Some use a naked cavity, and merely secure it in its crevices from the filtering intrusion of rain or other water, the closing patches being formed of the usual waxy material. This is the practice of B. terrestris, which associates the largest communities of all; and B. lapidarius seeks cavities among stones or in the earth, and forms a nest of a regular oval, but merely clothes the sides, which is done by bits of moss and grass carried carefully home. The domestic arrangements within are much the same in all, the prolific females and the neuters being the labourers, which perform all the duties of building, the collecting and caring for the young, the function of the males being limited to the perpetuation of the species.

Gen. Char.:—The neuter.—Body nearly cylindrical and subpubescent. Head transverse, about as wide as the thorax; vertex and face deeply longitudinally channelled in the centre, the latter to the apex of a small triangular elevated space between the insertion of the antennÆ, and extending to the base of the clypeus, the sides of the face flat; the ocelli rather large, seated far back upon the vertex in a triangle, the anterior one in the depth of the longitudinal channel, the two lateral ones placed further back towards the occiput in a transverse indentation crossing the longitudinal one; compound eyes very pubescent; the hexagonal facets very minute; antennÆ short, filiform, geniculated; the scape nearly half the length of the flagellum and subfusiform, the basal joint of the flagellum globose, the second subclavate and subequal with the remainder, very slightly lengthening to the apical joint, which is compressed and as short as the second; clypeus quadrate, convex; labrum transverse, linear, slightly waved in front; mandibles broad at the apex, edentate, obliquely truncated and concavo-convex; cibarial apparatus shortish; tongue nearly twice the length of the labium, linear, pubescent, and terminating in a small knob; paraglossÆ obsolete, coadunate with the base of the tongue; labial palpi not quite so long as the tongue, the first joint four times as long as the remainder, and tapering from the base to the apex of the second joint, which is about one-fourth the length of the preceding, and has the two very short terminal joints articulated just before its acute apex; maxillÆ broad, hastate; labium half the length of the tongue, its inosculation straightly transverse, not so long as the tongue and acuminate; the maxillary palpi extremely short, the basal one the shortest. Thorax subglobose; prothorax inconspicuous; scutellum lunulate and impending over the post-scutellum, which is transverse and linear; metathorax truncated; wings with a long marginal cell extending nearly to the end of the wing, and obtuse at its extremity, three submarginal cells which terminate at less than half the length of the marginal, the second the largest and receiving the first recurrent nervure towards its commencement, the third oblique and narrow and receiving the second recurrent nervure just beyond its centre; legs slender, subpilose; the anterior and intermediate tibiÆ with a spur, their plantÆ with a dense short close brush all round, the posterior tibiÆ triangular, glabrous within, externally smooth, shining, and irregularly concave, the edges fringed longitudinally with long hair curving inwards, and forming the sides of the corbiculum, or basket, which conveys the matÉriel of the nest, the apex transverse and pectinated with short rigid setÆ, but wholly without spurs; the plantÆ oblong, not quite so long as the tibiÆ, the sides nearly parallel, the upper edge fringed with long loose hair, subglabrous externally, but furnished internally with ten transverse, parallel rows of short stiff golden hair, with an auricle at the outer angle, forming collectively a dense brush, and its oblique apex pectinated with short stiff setÆ, the remainder of the tarsal joints short, the fourth the shortest, and the claw-joint the longest; the claws short, robust, and bifid. ABDOMEN retuse at the base, subcylindrical, convex above, and terminating conically, the first segment very short, the second the longest, the ventral segments ridged longitudinally in the centre.

The FEMALE, or QUEEN differs in the head not being quite so wide as the thorax, in having the cibarial apparatus very much shorter; the mandibles distinctly bidentate, the inner edge of the inner tooth stretching obliquely to the acute inner extremity of the broad apex of the organ; the labial palpi as long as the tongue, with all the joints conterminous, the basal one slightly acuminate, the second linear, the two terminal ones more slender and shorter, the pubescence of the eyes very much longer than in the neuter; the legs more robust and less pilose; the posterior tibiÆ convex externally, without the lateral fringes of hair, and their plantÆ merely oblong, without the external basal auricle. The ABDOMEN is also considerably relatively longer; and has not the central ventral ridge.

The MALE or DRONE differs from both in being considerably more robust and more completely cylindrical, and very much more densely pubescent; the compound eyes contiguous at the summit, occupying the whole of the vertex, and nearly all the lateral portions of the face, extending below to the articulation of the mandibles, their pubescence much shorter but denser than in the other sex; the ocelli large, and seated at the top of the central portion of the face in a close triangle, a little above the insertion of the antennÆ, and in front of the conjunction of the compound eyes, the lateral ones of the triangle being closely contiguous to the upper inner edge of those eyes; the antennÆ are more robust and rather longer; the cibarial apparatus very short; the labial palpi about three-fourths the length of the tongue, and the joints conterminous, the tongue robust; the thorax is nearly quadrate; the legs are nearly naked, the four anterior very slender; the posterior tibiÆ slightly curved, convex externally; the posterior plantÆ more robust, and more convex externally than their tibiÆ, they are regularly oblong, and without the basal auricle, the rest of the joints of the tarsi are very short. The ABDOMEN robust, and obtuse at its extremity, but its seventh segment is concealed beneath; the ventral segments concave longitudinally.

The name of this genus, Apis, adopted by LinnÆus as the classical generic name of the bee, although with him it comprised the whole modern family of these insects, but which, as now restricted, in accordance with its limitation exclusively to the congeners of his adopted type, is the ancient Latin vernacular name of the honey-bee, and to which it has been ever since uniformly attached. This name, as shown by its derivative meaning, was originally imposed with direct reference to the insect’s constructive habits, as was the case with the names given to it in the more primitive languages before referred to, and which is also the origin of its Teutonic and Scandinavian appellations—Biene, Bie, and Bi, whence our own common name for it is obtained through the Saxon Beo, and we have beside Bye or bee, signifying a dwelling. From this circumstance it would seem that a very early and universal discernment existed of its ingenuity and skill, its significant name being everywhere analogous.

The habits and economy of these industrious little creatures have been a source of greater wonder and admiration the more closely and accurately they have been observed. They have attracted the thoughtful speculation of minds of the largest compass throughout all ages, which, reasoning upon the modus operandi of these insects, have endeavoured to define, and determine the differences between instinct and reason, with their precise limitations. But baffled in their attempt to settle whether these be affinities or analogies, it should rather have persuaded them to adopt the motto of Montaigne, and exclaim, Que sais-je? Into these metaphysical discussions it is not necessary to enter, and I confine myself to the natural history of the insect.

Although the description of the three sexes which comprise the population of the hive are technically given above with scientific precision, it will be as well, perhaps, to recapitulate them briefly, with their distinctive attributes, in a more popular form.

They consist of a queen, or productive female, whose function is thought to be exclusively to lay eggs, but who may perhaps have some hitherto undiscovered control over the executive of the hive, to be implied by the confusion invariably following her death or her removal from the community, and which becomes totally destructive to its organic constituency unless stayed by another monarch being improvised, or by one extraneously supplied; one monarch alone rules without a coadjutor, and without any equal being tolerated, for the presence of a second queen, or the immature larva of one, even of her own progeny, maddens her to murderous aggression, or to the impulse of emigration accompanied with a host of adherents. She never leaves the hive when once her duties have fully commenced, for by distinction of structure she is rendered incompetent to execute any of the labours that devolve upon the workers; her tongue is formed only to lap nutriment; she has no cysts for the secretion of wax, she is without the honey-bag for conveying that liquid home, and her posterior shanks are convex externally, and thus deficient in the concave basket for carrying home the stores of pollen or propolis, whilst their plantÆ are without the little earlet at the top externally, or the close dense brush arranged in rows within, which aid these workers in their many manipulations. Her wings are too short to convey her ponderous body through the air, and her sting becomes stronger by being curved. Thus she is exonerated from labour by the incapacity of her structure to execute it, although her duties are quite as incessant and as arduous, being indispensable to the perpetuation of the species.

Her consort, the DRONE, is the male of the hive, and although the queen is monandrous or single-spoused, and although the hive during the season rarely throws off more than three swarms, usually restricted to the accompaniment of a single queen, and thus but three males are absolutely required, nature is so provident of the great design of perpetuation, that to provide against the possibility of its frustration, the hive usually produces about a thousand drones. A peculiarity in the structure of the drone which facilitates his discovery of the virgin queen when she issues from the hive on the bridal excursion, which she makes preliminary to her heading a swarm of emigrants, or assuming monarchy at home, consists in the vertical enlargement of his compound eyes, which meet over the brow, and in the posterior expansion of the inferior wings, which take a broad backward sweep, giving the insect larger powers of flight, but perhaps required as much by its own bulkiness and weight as for the purpose of ascending above his bride in the upper regions of the air; but that its weight cannot be the sole reason is testified by the analogous structure in the male of the genus Astata, one of the fossorial Hymenoptera, where a similar expansion of the inferior wing is concomitant with a similar development of the compound eyes, yet in which the abdomen is very small, and this power is therefore evidently given to these merely to increase the velocity or the duration of their flight. The rest of the structure of these drones disables them, like all other male bees, for any labour; and as they must be sustained as long as they may be of service, the possibility of which terminates with the last issue of a swarm from the hive, a period appreciated by the instinct of the workers, they are then driven forth, but it is in dispute whether the workers destroy them, or whether their destruction is effected by exposure and hunger, or by the natural limitation of their lives, for although their tongues are formed upon the same type as that of the worker, it is considerably less developed, and appears to be adapted only to obtain nutriment from the honey already collected in the cells, as they seem even deficient in the instinct to gather it for themselves from flowers, never being observed to visit them.

The last inhabitant of the hive is the WORKER, or abortive female, whose labour has several phases. A difference of size amongst them has been supposed to have been noticed by observers as varying with their occupation and duties, but as they are all constructed in the same manner, with precisely the same organs, which are of the same form and in the same situation, this must be a mere imaginative surmise. Their similarity of structure permits them, collectively, to apply themselves to the same occupations which the needs of the community may at any moment demand. Taking them separately with their distinctive occupations at any given time, without implying by it a permanent separation of classes, we find them to consist of wax secreters, builders or cell-sculpturers, honey collectors, pollen collectors, propolis collectors, nurses of the young, ventilators, undertakers to carry off the dead, who are perhaps also the scavengers which cleanse away any occasional dirt, sentinels to guard the hive outside and inside, and attendants upon the queen, or as the “‘Times’ Bee Master” very aptly designates them “ladies in waiting,” and at all times many slumberers are reposing from their toils. That all these duties are transferable, and consequently are transferred indifferently from one to the other, is implied by their general capacity for fulfilling them resulting from this identity of structure, which will be understood as not at all infringed by the separate capacities I unfold as devolving from their temporarily limited functions, all being simultaneously in action, but distributed amongst the several individuals.

The first important occupation of the worker is the secretion of wax for the structure of the cells, and, to effect this, honey must be collected, for it is solely from the digestion of honey that the wax is produced. This in due course passes from the first stomach or honey-pouch wherein it is collected, thence to the second stomach, and then on to the cysts or little bags which run along on each side from the second to the fifth ventral segments, and correspond and communicate with eight trapezoidal depressions placed externally upon the plates of the ventral segments—four on each side, through the concavity of which the secreted wax exudes in a liquid, transparent, hot state, forming a thin scale within each, which the air hardens into a white substance, as the pulp of paper is hardened upon the form into which it is introduced, or like salt crystallizing into flakes from sea-water in shallow salines. This, however, is not yet wax, although its essential constituent, but to become so these scales are removed by the scopulÆ of the posterior plantÆ and their auricle, to the intermediate feet and by these transferred to the anterior pair, which pass them to the mandibles, where they are masticated and mixed with a saliva issuing from the mouth, and thus intermingled they consolidate into a white opaque mass, which issues from the mouth like a thin strip of riband, and constitutes true wax, plastic to their manipulation. To form this secretion, the bees having collected the honey themselves in the first instance, or having consumed sufficient before leaving the hive with the swarm, but which they subsequently obtain from the supplies stored in the present hive, hang themselves in festoons in all directions about its cavity, each festoon being formed by two parallel chains of bees clinging together; the top bee on each side hangs by its anterior claws to the top of the hive, and the next in succession grasps with its fore claws the hind claws of that and so on, until the depth of the festoon they find to be sufficient, when the bottom bees of each chain swing themselves together, and cling to each other in the same manner by their hind claws only. These festoons are speedily suspended, and with a fresh swarm are in immediate active operation. The secretion requires about twenty-four hours to complete, and as this is accomplished the festoons break up, and these secreters convey it to where the sculpturer bees or builders are moulding the cells, to whom it is successively supplied by the secreters themselves as wanted, for none is stored, although the wax of old or dilapidated parts of the hive, or of the vacated cells of the new-born queens are reconverted to use. These builders are very rapid in their construction of the hexagonal cells, which, as they are progressively completed, are stored with honey, this being during the time assiduously gathered by the honey collectors, and these cells are interspersed occasionally with those wherein pollen or propolis is stored, each of which, as the bees collecting them successively return, is cast into the selected cell by the bee collecting it, who returns at once to the same employment, whilst the store thus deposited is immediately compactly pressed in and warehoused by other bees who fulfil that duty, or who cover it in when the cells are filled, with a waxen covercle formed of concentric circles; or, in the case of the honey-cells, to keep the thickened operculum deposited upon it in due position and repair, after the retiring of the bee which brought home the fresh store of honey, and which had displaced it to regurgitate her addition into the cell. This operculum or cover is of a thicker consistency than the honey itself, and prevents its oozing from the cells, which would often take place from their uniformly horizontal position, were it not for the sagacity which prompts them to introduce this preventive, and which is not removed until the cell is filled; it is then covered hermetically with its waxen top.

A sufficient number of cells being ready, and sufficient stores of honey, pollen, and propolis for the progressive labours of the hive, and a great number of empty cells all finished for the use of the queen, she begins to lay her eggs. As these are hatched the duty of the nursing-bees commences, which is to feed the young, who crave for food like young birds, and are as diligently supplied by these nurses with a material called bee-bread, which consists of masticated pollen, the pollen being exclusively stored and used for the purpose. This is mixed with some secretion from the mouth, which converts it into a sort of frothy jelly. These bees are never negligent of their duties, and with their feeding the larvÆ rapidly grow.

To keep up a necessary supply of air in the hive, and to prevent suffocation from heat, a certain number of the community are employed in fanning the passages between the cakes of comb and the whole interior of the hive, by the vibration of their wings, which thoroughly ventilates it, and the accumulation of deleterious air is prevented; some, for this purpose, being posted at the aperture to the hive, where, this vibration causing a temporary vacuum, the external air rushes in, and the chain of succession of bees within becoming thus vibrating air-valves completes the ventilating arrangement. While all these operations are progressing, a certain number are acting as a militia of citizens, who have substitutes only in the succession and change of duties. These act as sentinels, who guard the entrance and patrol the interior and courageously intercept all inimical intrusion, for the bees have many enemies, but who are merely so to benefit themselves, and are not parasites of the nature of the bee-parasites of the solitary kinds; and where they cannot individually avert it, they obtain collateral aid from others of their staff. The next class is the attendants upon the queen: these vary in number from twelve to twenty; they invariably accompany her wherever she proceeds throughout the hive, for the purpose of laying her eggs; and whether their custom gave rise to the etiquette which attends human royalty, that a subject may never turn the back upon the sovereign, these attendant bees surround her with the head always turned towards her, and seem to caress her with their antennÆ and pay her every kind of deferential homage, those in front moving backwards as she advances, and those on each side, laterally, so that they ever face her; and as they tire others succeed them in their duties. Another set fulfil the office of keeping the hive thoroughly clean, for the transit of such large numbers will inevitably collect occasional dirt, as will the drift of the wind at the entrance of the hive and the action of the ventilators themselves. Their duty it is also to remove any extraneous organic body that has forcibly entered and which may have succumbed to the vindictiveness of the bees. Where they are not strong enough, even collectively, to effect the removal, as in the case of a mouse or anything else as large or larger, they then call to their aid the wax workers and the repairers; these enclose the obnoxious body, which they have the judgment to know will become dangerous from putrefaction, to aid in its prevention, by a cerement of wax or propolis, which prevents any offensive exhalation, and thus secures the wholesomeness of the hive.

Here is completed, with the enumeration of those which successively repose from their toil, the several labours of the community which inhabits the hive.

The structure of the workers, which enables them to carry on all these operations with the requisite facility, is very different from that of the two sexes we have just described. As before said, they are abortive females, but, as I shall have occasion to explain lower down, capable of having this special incapacity removed, if the necessary process requisite to be adopted for the purpose be applied within three days of their being hatched into the larva state. The acquisition of the faculty of fertility entails, however, the loss of all power of pursuing any of the other occupations of the hive practised exclusively by the workers in general. The nurture that gives it them converts them into queens, and moulds them to the structure of this sex described above. As a remarkable and rare exception, some one or other of these workers will occasionally have power of laying a few eggs, but which are always those of drones. The other peculiarities of their structure are its adaptation to the secretion of wax above described; and their power of throwing up the honey they have collected in the first stomach or honey-bag, before it passes on by digestion, somewhat in the way the ruminant quadrupeds bring up the cud, of course by muscular action, without the convulsion of vomiting. Their next distinction is that their mandibles are edentate and more like spoons, and are often so used, or as the plastering-trowel of masons is for smoothing surfaces. Their legs remarkably differ from those of the other sexes, all of their limbs being somewhat adapted to the collection and conveyance of pollen and its manipulation, as well as that of propolis; but it is the posterior shanks which are specially constructed for the conveyance of these materials, by being framed externally like a little basket; being hollowed longitudinally and their lateral edges fringed with recurved hair, which retains whatever may be placed within the smooth and hollow surface, and the apical extreme edge has a pecten or comb of short stiff bristles. The first joint of the posterior feet have also their distinctive form, adapted to special branches of their economy. These are oblong, wider than the shank, and about two-thirds its length, and consequently powerful limbs; at the outer angle of the edge, nearest the shank, is a little projection called the auricle or earlet, the inner surface is clothed with ten parallel transverse rows of close dense hair, and its apical edge has along its whole width a pecten similar to that of the apex of the shank. This shank being without spurs, which only the domestic bee is deficient in, gives the pecten a freedom of action it would not otherwise have, and enables it to be used together with the earlet opposite to it on the foot, as an instrument for laying hold of the thin flakes of wax upon the venter, and to bring them forward to the intermediate legs to be passed on to the mouth, and there to be converted into wax. The pecten of the foot and also its brush aid in their removal in case of need, and help as well both in the manipulation and the storing the materials collected. Thus, this whole structure, exclusively possessed by the worker, is pre-eminently designed for the manifold operations of the hive; and the bee itself and its works are but one closely linked chain of wonderful contrivances.

The entire economy of the hive seems to emanate exclusively from the two most prominent attributes of instinct, that of self-preservation, and that other more important axis of the vast wheel of creation, the secured perpetuation of the kind by the conservative st????, or absorbing love of the offspring. The latter is more eminently developed in the social bees than in any other group of the family of these insects. In the solitary bees it presents itself as a blind impulse, unconscious of its object; for did we admit the consciousness of the purpose of their labours, we should evidently endow them with reason. How could they know, without reflection, that the food they store in the receptacle they form for the egg they will deposit, and which receptacle is exactly adapted to the size that the larva which will be hatched from it will take, is to nurture a creature they will never see, and whose wonderful transformations they will not therefore witness? In the hive bee the maternal instinct exhibits itself as an energy diffused through a multitude of individuals, but these witness the results of their solicitude, and exclusively promote its successful issue; and in these also the instinct of self-preservation is a diffused impulse, which likewise includes the preservation of the society.

As male and female conjunctively make up the species, thus do the queen-bee and the neuters collectively make up one sex,—the mother,—for the functions performed by the female alone in the case of the solitary kinds of bees are, in the genus Apis, separately executed. The cares and labours of maternity devolve upon these neuters, while the queen-bee’s maternal function is limited to merely laying the eggs with which she is replete, with the instinctive power of selecting for them their proper depository,—each of which is adapted in size to that of the sex which will be produced. Her maternal instinct stops abruptly here, without the development of an afterthought or care for their future thriving. The instinct of the neuters, like the anticipative promptings of the human mother, to prepare the clothing and other necessaries for her expected infant, has forecast the queen’s needs in its intermittent urgency, by progressively constructing cells fitted severally in size for the growth and nurture of neuters, the first developed; of drones, the next produced; and lastly, of queens, which soon afterwards appear; she instinctively knowing the proper time and the suitable use of them, having the faculty of distinguishing them with a view to the deposit of the particular kind of eggs of which she is for the moment parturient.

The drones, or male bees, appear to receive life for one substantial purpose only, which is soon accomplished, but during the short space of time its successive performance requires, it is incidentally accompanied with assistance to the general community whilst they remain permitted occupants of the hive, by aiding in heating and ventilating it,—a labour repaid by the food, which they obtain from the stores kept open for daily consumption. Although uncontributive to the acquisition of the riches of the hive, yet are they indispensable to the perpetuation of the species, and their murder as supposed by some apiarians, or their expulsion as thought by others, in either case equally terminating in their destruction, seems an unworthy return for the important service performed, although this is restricted to the number of individuals required by the equal number of queens that may be produced. To this number their production might be limited, but for the chance of either or all of these queens failing by some casualty to obtain a prince consort. To baffle the possibility of this mischance, a very superfluous number of these drones is hatched, as above stated, which are on the alert, when each queen successively issues forth upon her bridal morn, to catch her favouring glances, and be the accepted groom. That they are not further conducive to the well-being of the hive is the fault of their structure and of their instinct, which are correlative, they being as little fitted either in their tongue or their legs for the uses of the hive as the queen herself. The physiology of their intercourse is a mystery of mysteries, and would seem to partake of the principle, modified, of that developed in the aphides, where the vital power passes on through successive generations by the efficiency of the energy of one ancestral intercourse. In the hive bee this is not the case, but in these the one espousal fertilizes eggs to the number of often a hundred thousand, yet undeveloped and even indiscernible by the aid of the microscope in the ovaries of the queen, and which become bees progressively in the course of a couple of years, the supposed duration of her existence, during the whole of which time she is laying. The accepted male is destroyed by the effects of the amour, and when all the queens which are to be the heads of independent communities are successively fertilized, and have led forth their colonies, the remaining drones issue compulsively from the hive and are lost in the wideness of nature, and die by the natural limitation of their existence, or become the prey of their numerous enemies.

The neuters or workers are, as it were, emanations of the queen, or the organs whereby her several functions as a mother are performed, considering the species as restricted to two sexes, and thus they comprise with her, collectively, one organic whole. That this is a consistent view of their condition is further proved by the circumstance that from their larvÆ, upon the failure of a queen, a new queen is produced upon one being supplied with a certain nutriment that developes the capacity that would remain inert and abortive, were it not thus promoted from its primary state. It may be questioned whether the eggs deposited by the queen in the royal cells are other than neuter eggs, their subsequent nature being changed by the different quality of the sustenance they are fed with when hatched, as is the case in the above noticed defection of a queen. This then would limit the queen’s eggs to the eggs of neuters and of drones, thus further corroborating the idea of the existence of but two sexes.

I have stated above the supposition that the queen’s office may be restricted to the laying of eggs, but it must be inferred that it has a wider compass, and possibly comprises some administrative function in the regulation of the hive, from the circumstance that with her loss the entire community loses its self-possession and self-control. Labour then ceases and the hive becomes the scene of turmoil and confusion, and unless the loss be repaired in the way named above, which their instinct teaches them to adopt, if any eggs have been already deposited, or if supplied by the surreptitious introduction of another queen which they immediately raise to their superintendency, paying her the same deference they had done to their lost monarch, or would do to a legitimately native birth, it disperses and destroys the community. Such a loss in its natural course must necessarily, to be effectively repaired, take place in the interval after the laying of the drones’ eggs, and before those of the queens are deposited, for otherwise she would remain unimpregnated. Having thus shown reasons for supposing that the hive actually contains but two sexes, and having also shown that the first phase exhibited of this distributed maternal instinct by which the neuters form conjunctively with the queen a many-headed and many-hearted mother, is their preparation of the cells for all the purposes required,—the next and most important, and the one perhaps which elevates them vastly higher in the scale of social intelligence and affection, is the absolute development in them only of maternal solicitude for the well-being of the offspring. This certainly proves the existence of the diffused maternity urged, for they feed the hatched young as the bird does its callow, from hour to hour, and which, when full grown, they enclose in its formative cell, to undergo its changes and become one amongst themselves. It is not absolutely determined whether the functions performed within the hive are restricted to distinct sets of the workers, but it may be presumed that the duties are transferable, for the most plausible supposition is, that all the offices are interchangeably performed by the entire population, possibly merely limited to daily alternation of individuals taled off each morning for the day’s duties. That an administrative regulation must exist under some executive authority, emanating doubtless from the centralization of all in the queen, and communicated to the rest by her relays of attendants, may be conclusively inferred, otherwise all might similarly employ themselves from day to day, and thus overwhelm with one work the multiplicity of labours required for the well-being of the hive. For whilst some are secreting the wax from the honey they have consumed, others are moulding it into shape, others are harvesting the bee-bread to feed the voracious larvÆ, others are gleaning the propolis for the security of the domicile, others are collecting honey to store as needful supplies, others are either ventilating or heating the interior, others act as sentinels and guard the approaches or patrol the passages within, and will die in that defence like genuine patriots, and others are in attendance upon the queen in her progresses through her dominions, and who may individually act as aides-de-camp to convey her commands to the rest. All these are not fanciful embellishments of the narrative, but substantial and well-authenticated facts, supported by the repetition on many sides of careful observations, but perplexing to human intelligence, for not the least wonder of this conventicle of wonders—the hive—is that it confounds the astute reason of man to comprehend it in all its significancies.

The first necessity of a new colony is the selection of a locality for habitation, which is usually effected by preliminary trustworthy intelligencers determining upon a site suitable from its concurrent conveniences. A sufficient supply of sustenance must be conveyed by the emigrants to accompany the preparatory construction of the settlement, until land can be cleared, grain grown, etc., and a year at least will pass, even under the most favourable circumstances of the exertion of the greatest industry, concurrently with the most propitious succession of the seasons, before it can become self-sustaining. But when once the wheel is fairly on the move, round it spins without interruption or relaxation. The colony thrives, increasing rapidly in its population; and where all have put the shoulder to the wheel it climbs the steep and rugged hill of prosperity, whilst those who are carried onward by its evolutions, from each of the many successive terraces of this noble height, survey a broad, cheerful, and fertile landscape, extending itself with their elevation, spread out to a distant horizon, which many of the more venturous spirits amongst them, urged by the teeming increase of their compatriots, have already traversed, and who themselves are now rejoicing in the establishment of offshoots, which speedily rival, in successful fruitfulness, the wide-branched productiveness of the parent stock.

This is strictly the history of the hive, and the parallelism is complete, even to the conveyance with them of the preliminary needful stores. Before a swarm issues from the hive, some fly forth to select a dwelling-place, and return, it is presumed, to make their report.

The population of the hive becoming so dense that there is no longer room for the free and unrestrained circulation of the ordinary processes of the community, and so hot from the inconvenient accumulation of such numbers,—for they extend sometimes to as many as fifty thousand,—instinct prompts a portion of the community to migrate. This disposition is further promoted by the progressive, or completed development of some of the young queens. The inveterate and internecine animosity of these—anticipated rivalry, suggesting, it is surmised, the murderous desire, but being prevented from its indulgence by the defensive guardianship of several of the workers—urges the old queen to abandon at this conjuncture her royal metropolis. The inclination to do so, it would appear, is already foreseen by a very large body of her subjects, for if her departure be delayed by her successor’s protracted incapacity for undertaking the sovereign rule, the intending emigrants, having already abandoned all the labours of their old domicile preparatory to their issuing forth, will cluster in groups about the bee board until she is ready to emerge. This condition will sometimes last a day or two, and thence of course all is confusion both within and without the hive, for her subjects have suspended their labours and she has suspended her egg-laying, and roams wildly about within, striving, whenever she approaches a royal cell, or a fully developed young queen, to attack the latter, and destroy her by stinging her to death, or, to tear the former to pieces to get at the imago within, which indicates its apprehension by a shrill piping sound. But she is forcibly dragged back from this apicidal purpose by the working bees which surround each, and who now intermit their usual deference to prevent this destruction, and bite her and drag her back. The future queen of the abdicated throne having, during this turmoil, returned from her wedding tour, and being still protected from slaughterous aggression, the old queen indignantly issues forth. This exodus takes place usually on a brilliant and warm day, between twelve and three,—accordingly during the hottest hours. This is the first swarm of the year, and if the season be very genial it will take place in May. In this migration she is accompanied by all her most faithful lieges, which comprise, to the honour of beehood, by very much the largest majority of the inhabitants, to the number usually, in a well-stocked hive, of several thousands,—say from ten to twenty, depending on the population of the hive.

Having thus issued forth in a body, they shortly alight upon and about the branch of some adjacent tree, clustering, in as close proximity as they can, to their royal leader. In a natural state, when duly organized to proceed, they would thence start for the domicile that had previously been selected by the emissaries above noted; but, as their natural habits are not at all perverted by their subjugation to man, we will pursue their history under his dominion. This will be the more convenient, for in the comfortable hive to which they have been transferred by his agency, we shall have every opportunity of exactly watching their manoeuvres by the facilities yielded in its being glazed for the purpose. We shall thus be enabled to see and follow the wonderful economy of the hive and its many mysteries, which it would not have been possible to accomplish in an abode of their own choice,—some cavity presented by Nature herself, the hollow of a tree, or an excavated rock. They are, therefore, now housed, and after the survey of the capacity of their abode, which is a short affair, with all the prompt energy peculiar to them they at once commence their labours. The queen is already matured, and ready to lay eggs. In a natural abode the gathering of propolis would perhaps be a first necessity to make their home water-and-wind-tight, for they abhor the inconveniences of the intrusion of wet or cold. It is with this material that they make repairs, fill crevices, and strengthen the suspension of their combs, which are hung vertically; and they apply it also to other purposes, which we shall see hereafter. This material is of a resinous nature, it has a balsamic odour, and is of a reddish-brown or darker colour, and is supposed to be collected from fir or pine trees, or from the envelopes of the buds of many plants, or their resinous exudations, especially that of the blossoms of the hollyhock. It is exceedingly clammy, and they have been observed ten minutes moulding it into the lenticular pellets in which they carry it home in the corbicula, or little basket, of the posterior tibiÆ. They gather it like pollen with the fore feet, and pass it to the intermediate ones, whence it is taken by the posterior plantÆ, kneaded into shape, and deposited upon the hind shanks. It dries so rapidly that often, upon arriving home, the bees which store it have much difficulty in tearing it from the legs of these collectors. The hottest days only are propitious to its gathering, for all moisture is injurious to it, and the hottest period of the day, also, is alone occupied in its collection. It is said that they have been known to fly as many as from three to five miles for it, from the circumstance that suitable plants were not to be found within a lesser radius; but this may be a mistake, for their ordinary excursions are not supposed to range wider than a single mile or something more, and bees may be able to find it where we may suppose it not to occur. In the abode with which we have provided them it is not so urgent a necessity, this being already wind-and-water-tight, although in the progress of their labours they find it indispensable, and use it to fasten the crevices that intervene between the bottom of the hive and the bee board, and, as before noticed, to strengthen the support of the cakes of comb which hang from the roof. The name it still retains is that which was applied to it by the ancients, and signifies before the city, as indicative of its use in strengthening the outworks.

Conjoined herewith is the imperative need for the construction of cells for every purpose of the hive, namely, for the storing of the propolis, and that of the pollen, as also the collected honey, as well as for the reception of the young brood, for the mature queen is waiting impatiently to deposit her eggs. Simultaneously, therefore, is the wax being secreted and elaborated by the processes previously noticed. The community is already late, and all are at once in active operation, but four-and-twenty hours must elapse before the cells can he commenced, for it takes that time to secrete the first batch of wax. Festoons, as before described, of these wax secreters are hanging in every direction within the cavity of the hive, and as soon as the process is completed by the first festoon, this dissolves itself by the several bees unlinking their feet, and a leading bee proceeds to the top of the centre of the hive, where she makes herself room from the lateral pressure of other bees, by turning herself sharply about and agitating her wings, and there she collects the scales from the surface of her ventral segments, manipulates them as before noticed, and thus converts them into wax. The rest follow her, and she collects it from them into a little oblong mass of about half an inch; whilst other bees from other festoons are continually arriving to deposit their produce; and as soon as the mass is sufficiently large, which is speedily the case, a sculpturer bee succeeds, and the first cell is laterally commenced. On the opposite side to where this is being framed, two other bees are at work, moulding the bottoms of two cells in apposition to the basis of the first one. The wax keeps constantly increasing by fresh deposits, and the rudiments of more cells are as rapidly formed. These all emanate laterally, in a horizontal direction or with a very slight incline towards their base. They gradually form the vertical cake of comb, for the bottom of one entire range of cells suffices for both sides and inevitably they are so adjusted that the bottoms of those on either side are each covered by one-third of the bottoms of each cell on the opposite side, and so conversely, receiving and communicating strength by three thus supporting one. Here comes the great wonder of the hive; here in this fragile structure abides a mystery that has perplexed man’s keenest sagacity. Is it accident or is it intelligence that instructs the bee, or is it the impulse of the instinct implanted by that Supreme Intelligence which gives man his reason and moulds all things to their most fitting use?

Ray’s view is precisely this; he says:—“The bee, a creature of the lowest forms of animals, so that no man can suspect it to have any considerable measure of understanding, or to have knowledge of, much less to aim at, any end, yet makes her combs and cells with that geometrical accuracy, that she must needs be acted by an instinct implanted in her by the wise Author of Nature.” To support this idea of the geometrical skill of the bee, he cites “the famous mathematician Pappus,” the Alexandrian, of the time of Theodosius the Great, who “demonstrates it in the preface to his third book of Mathematical Collections.” “First of all (saith he, speaking of the cells), it is convenient that they be of such figures as may cohere one to another, and have common sides, else there would be empty spaces left between them to no use but to the weakening and spoiling of the work, if anything should get in there, and therefore though a round figure be most capacious for the honey, and most convenient for the bee to creep into, yet did she not make choice of that, because then there must have been triangular spaces left void. Now, there are only three rectilineous and ordinate figures, which can serve to this purpose, and inordinate, or unlike ones, must have been, not only less elegant and beautiful, but unequal. [Ordinate figures are such as have all their sides and all their angles equal.] The three ordinate figures are triangles, squares, and hexagons; for the space about any point may be filled up either by six equilateral triangles, or four squares, or three hexagons; whereas three pentagons are too little, and three heptagons too much. Of these three, the bee makes use of the hexagon, both because it is more capacious than either of the others provided they be of equal compass, and so equal matter spent in the construction of each. And, secondly, because it is most commodious for the bee to creep into. And, lastly, because in the other figures more angles and sides must have met together at the same point, and so the work could not have been so firm and strong. Moreover, the combs being double, the cells on each side the partition are so ordered that the angles on one side insist upon the centres of the bottoms of the cells on the other side, and not angle upon or against angle; which also must needs contribute to the strength and firmness of the work.”

Each cell therefore is in shape a hexagon, that is to say, a figure with six equal sides, to each of which six other hexagons attach, for each wall forms also one wall of another hexagon. The basis of each hexagonal cavity is of an obtuse three-sided pyramidal shape inverted, and consisting of three rhomboidal plates, each forming one-third of the basis of the three opposite cells; thus the edges of these three basal plates of one side support three lateral walls of three hexagons on the other side. The inverted triangular pyramid thus made by these three equal rhomboidal plates, form, at one extremity and at each pair of their posterior edges a re-entering angle, and at the other extremity a salient angle. From these edges spring the lateral walls of the hexagonal cell, this shape being superinduced by the form of the edges of the basal cavity. That the bees should have been thus guided to elect a form which combines conjunctively the advantages of strength and capacity evidently proves that it is their instinct which guides them, which, being an afflation from the highest source, ensures the most complete perfection in its result. That it cannot be the effect of simultaneous lateral pressure is proved incontestably by the whole superstructure resulting from the design of the base; and this is further corroborated by the base of one cell on one side forming invariably equal portions of the base of three cells on the opposite side,—all clearly the result of preconceived design impressed upon their sensorium. From this combination of forms results the security procured to the fragile tenement, which consists of the very smallest quantity of material that will cohere substantially, for the bees are exceedingly parsimonious of their wax, as if the production of it were attended with pain or inconvenience, and it is only upon the construction of the royal cells that a profusion of this choice material is squandered. As soon as these cohorts of bees are in active operation, it is astonishing with what pertinacity and rapidity they labour, for within the space of four-and-twenty hours they will construct a cake a foot deep and six inches wide, containing within its double area some four thousand cells. Other cakes parallel to each side of the original are being at the same time carried forward with an interval between each sufficient for two bees to pass each other dos À dos, and further to promote the convenience of traffic within the hive, and ready communication to its several parts, passages are left through these cakes from one to the other, so that the means of transit are opened, which of course saves much time. The queen is already making her progresses from one side of each comb to the other, and depositing her eggs as rapidly as she can, and is constantly attended by her aides-de-camp, as I have suggested, which act, as they evidently sometimes are, as the emissaries of her commands. They consist of ten or twelve or sometimes more, and have been previously described. They are replaced by others as they quit to obey orders, or as they retire fatigued, so that she is always surrounded. The number of eggs she will lay in a day is about two hundred. In doing this she first thrusts her head into a cell to ascertain its fitness, which having done, she withdraws it, and then curving her body she thrusts the apex of her abdomen, which tapers to the extremity for the purpose, into the cell, wherein by means of the sheaths of her curved sting, which act as an ovipositor, she places the egg at the bottom of the cell. It is possibly from some taction of this instrument that she discerns the sizes of the eggs, and thence their respective sex. This process she continues repeating, passing from one side of the comb to the other by means of the passages perforated through it, making the numbers as nearly as possible tally on each side and as opposite to each other as may be, and she will then go forward to further cakes of comb. In this way she lays about ten or twelve thousand in six weeks, depending much upon the propitiousness of the season, but the rapidity of this laying intermits according to the months; the above estimate is based upon what April and May produce, as it slackens during the summer heats and again revives in the autumn, but totally terminates with the first cold weather. She thus will lay from thirty to forty thousand or more in a year.

Apiarians do not state whether the same queen heads another swarm on the following year, which perhaps she does in those cases of excessive fertility where her abundance is estimated at one hundred thousand, when by her sole individual capacity she populates three hives. In the more usual and ordinary case of her teeming with about seventy thousand, or fewer, she evidently heads but one swarm. With the described rapidity of the production of the cells, although the majority are store cells and not brood cells, conjunctively with her prolific laying, the population of the hive rapidly increases, which, added to the large original colony, will enable it in a propitious year to throw off a swarm of its own; but ordinarily she does not again lay drone eggs and royal eggs until the following season. The period at which to do this is taught her by the condition of the hive, as urgent for relief to its oppressive population by an exodus. The drone eggs are then laid, and are speedily succeeded by the laying of the royal eggs, so that the males of the season and the new queens may be hatched almost simultaneously, the drones slightly preceding the development of the queens. As soon as the egg of a worker is hatched, which, by means of the high temperature, is effected in four days after the laying, it, from its birth, is sedulously attended by the bees called nurse-bees. The little vermicle is very voracious and is heedfully supplied by these careful attendants, when it has consumed the quantity of bee bread already deposited in the cell by some of these nurses as soon as the egg was laid. This bee bread consists of pollen, taken from the cells by the nurses, where it is garnered for the purpose, being therein mixed with a slight quantity of honey. This, in masticating, the nurses intermingle with some secretion of their own, which gives it a sort of gelatinous frothy appearance, and upon this the young thrives so rapidly, greedily opening its jaws to receive it, that in four more days it is full grown, and fills the whole cell. The nursing-bees then cover this in with a light brown top, convex externally, and within it the larva spins for itself a cocoon to undergo its subsequent transformations. This cocoon is spun of a fine silk, which issues from the organ of the larva called the spinner, in two delicate threads, which, as they pass out, cohere together. It works at this labour for thirty-six hours, and then changes into the pupa or grub; thus it lies quiescent for three days, when it gradually undergoes its transformation into the imago, and it issues as a perfect insect about the twenty-first day after being deposited as an egg. The cocoon it has formed exactly fills the cell it has left, which still continues to serve as a brood cell until the succession of cocoons with which it is thus lined renders it too small for the purpose, it is then cleaned out by the scavengers of the hive and changed into a honey depository, but the honey stored in such a cell is never so pure as that which comes from the exclusively waxen cell. Thus is effected the transformation of the working bee, which, upon the very day of its emancipation from its nursery, commences its duties as an active member of the community, in the successive and several labours undertaken for the benefit of the commonwealth, and these it assiduously follows for the period of its natural life, which extends to about six or eight months.

The hive is now in the liveliest activity. The swarm which entered with the queen, and the large addition to the population which has already been produced from her incessant laying, are all at their several avocations. The whole hive, its entrance and the immediate vicinity, and far around is jocund with the bustle and the buzz of the busy little creatures going and coming; those returning are all laden, although some do not appear so, but these are conveying riches home within them, as they are returning from their excursions with their honey-bag well filled. There is welcoming recognition at the entrance to the hive, where, on its broad platform, they all alight, and there many are to be seen touching each other with their antennÆ, or refreshing themselves by the vibrations of their wings, and in doing this they often raise themselves on the hind legs, or they are resting for a few seconds before they enter. Others are to be seen arriving unrecognizable from a coloured envelope of pollen which mantles them. The incessant hum that accompanies these proceedings is like the mildest tones of the surge of the distant sea, or the inarticulate buzz of the voice of large crowds. In this seeming confusion all obey the strictest order, for each attends to his own business only; there is no collision or loss of time or labour, each one fulfilling precisely its own mission. At this period the hive is a perfect model of order, neatness, and beauty. The combs we have seen so rapidly growing are to be filled, and fresh cells are being constantly constructed. The honey there stored from the gradual gatherings of these active harvesters is partly to be reserved for the winter’s needs, and is carefully husbanded, for each of these cells is, when filled, closed by a covercle of wax moulded as it is supplied to the operator in concentric circles, commencing at the edge, and each circle being completed before another is begun, and not in a spiral twist towards the centre. To prevent the trampling of the discharging bees from injuring the delicate structure of the walls of the cell, each edge is furnished with a strengthening rim of wax. The bulk of these stores is never broken, except in bad wet seasons, in times of great dearth, or upon any suspension of torpidity during their hibernation. For the ordinary and daily consumption of those of the community whose labours confine them to the hive, open stores are left. As of course it occupies the excursions of several bees for some time to fill one of these vases, and to prevent the liquid flowing out, as it might do from its exceeding tenuity through the influence of the summer heat, and the then increased temperature of the hive, as well as from its inclined horizontal position,—this is guarded against by the precautional sagacity of the little creatures placing upon it from the deposit of the very first supply a sort of operculum, as before described, of a thicker consistency, which lies upon the top of its progressive increase, and thus prevents its oozing. It lies upon the honey across the transverse diameter of the cell, and consequently in a vertical position. Its purpose, like that of the flat pieces of wood which are placed upon the water of full pails when carried by the yoke, is to prevent its spilling or overflowing. This small cover has to be partially removed upon the arrival of a bee with fresh store, which she herself does by tearing aside a portion of it to enable her to regurgitate into the cavity the portion she has brought home; upon freeing herself from this she does not wait to restore the dilapidation she has caused, but proceeds on a fresh harvesting. Another bee, whose duty it is, then readapts this cover to its purpose, and repairs it. Their excursions to collect are variously estimated at from one to three miles, and they make about ten a day. The bees, in their temporary distribution of labour, are something like the Indians which have caste, among whom each service has its special servitor, who never undertakes or interferes with the duties of another. The collection of pollen is almost as needful to the well-being of a hive as honey, this being used exclusively as the basis of the sustenance of the new brood in their larva state, in all their conditions of worker, drone, and queen, the perfect bee itself never partaking of it. It is variously commingled upon its application to use with secretions of their own, which convert it into bee bread or royal jelly, as the case may be, to fit it for its special employment, which is done by the nurse-bees, who diligently attend to the nurture of all the young. The cells for storing this material are not so numerous as the honey-cells, and they are jotted about without any distinct order, amongst them. When a bee arrives with her store of pollen on the edge of one of these cells, she turns round with her back to it and thrusts it in as fast as she can free it from her legs, both by their aid and the twisting about of her abdomen, and then, like the honey-gatherer, commences another journey. As soon as she is gone, another bee manipulates it with a small stock of honey, and packs it closely in. Whilst all this is doing, the set which watch the condition of the hive, like surveyors, to apply repairs where necessary, or to add strength and further support to the suspended cakes of comb, impatiently await the return of the collectors of propolis; this they tear from their shanks as fast as they arrive and as quickly as they can, for it rapidly hardens, especially in fine hot weather, and they convey it away for their requirements, whilst those which collected it fly off for fresh supplies, should more be needed. Concurrently with the execution of all these things, wax is still being secreted by festoons of bees suspended wherever there is space, the sculpturer bees are still moulding cells, the queen is still laying eggs, deferentially attended, as usual, by her maids of honour; the young brood is still being fed; other bees are ventilating the hive at its entrance and within its streets and lanes by the rapid vibration of their wings; the sentinels are diligently keeping guard to repel the inimical intrusion of wasps or snails or woodlice, or the moth which is so destructive to the interior in her larva state, from the covered moveable silken retreat which she constructs impervious to the sting, and thence with impunity gets at the silk of the cocoons and consumes the wax, making, when once fairly domiciled, such fearful havoc in the hive that the bees are fain to desert it,—and the many other numerous enemies which lust for the luscious honey, or whose voracity is attracted by the poor little diligent bees themselves, but who in such contingencies exhibit invincible courage, which, if not always successful in its efforts, is always meritorious. Where self-preservation is not the prompter, or the rivalry of love the instigator, but the duration of which is limited to a season, the feuds of the animal world all seem to proceed from the urgency of their gastronomic suggestions, the acrimony of which urges craft and strength to their most powerful exhibition. To allay hunger, destruction is perpetrated and order despoiled, and thus our bees become the victims of the imperativeness of this universal law. But sometimes they are triumphant over a very large enemy; for instance, an intrusive mouse, or a slug that has slimed its way through the arched portal. They have been known to kill these enemies within the hive as they could not make them withdraw, but perplexity results from their success; they are, however, gifted with the sagacity to know that the putridity of these masses will poison with its effluvia the atmosphere of their city which no ventilation can purify, and they convert that part of their metropolis into a mausoleum, covering the carcases with a coating of propolis, alone or mixed with wax, as before noticed. Those which execute this summary martial law are the sentinels—the armed police of the hive—which guard its entrance and avenues, and patrol its streets and lanes and passages. Concurrently with all these doings, scavengers are heedfully conveying away any particles of dirt or other undesirable superfluity which may have accidentally found its way in. That all these labours produce fatigue and exact rest is proved by the circumstance that many bees are always observed in a state of repose,—perhaps only forty winks during the day just to restore exhausted energy,—for they are soon seen again to resume their toil, this inactivity never being idleness. Whether they proceed with the same kind of employment upon the renewal of their work is not known, nor how long lasts a particular kind of labour, but the change of occupation may be one of frequent occurrence, and it may be presumed that each bee severally and successively undertakes each task, that the faculty for exercising it may not be extinguished. It is very possibly a daily change, which circulates through the entire civic population of workers.

Although the labours of the bees are divided, we do not find that even the most successful observers, who have had every opportunity, by the nature of the hives they possessed, and the sagacity they applied to the detection of the most minute particulars, have been enabled to discover that these workers were permanently separated into distinct classes,—indeed, although surmising from this distribution of labour that such might be the case, and thus made alert to the discovery of its positive confirmation by direct observation, they have never been able to do so; and they strongly deny it, maintaining that these duties are individually transferable, and that they are not restricted to certain classes, already sufficiently implied by the organization of the workers. Huber, it is true, states that the wax-sculpturers—those which finish the cells to their nicety of perfection—are smaller than any of the rest of the community, to facilitate their operations within the cells, which may perhaps be a foregone conclusion.

The idea of administrative vigilance in the distribution of the labour of the community is strongly corroborated by the fact that all the labours proceed pari passu and in equable order, no excessive preponderance of any particular work having been observed, which would certainly sometimes be the case were there no limiting control over their individual action, and thus the harmonious concurrence of all to one effect seriously disturbed. The supposition is also strengthened by the unfailing attendance of the queen’s numerous and deferential retinue, some one or other of whom, every now and then, quits that service—perhaps as an envoy on business of government—and is replaced by another. All these many circumstances lead to the presumption that the queen is the heart of the whole body, the organ which forces forward the circulation through its diverse channels, giving to all the temperate pulsation of vigorous health.

The hive is, of course, quite dark within, and to carry on the numerous operations which we have noticed are done there, either sight of a peculiar nature must lend its aid, or some faculty residing in a sensation analogous to touch, but which it may be cannot be known, nor where it may lie, but if it exist its organ is most probably the antennÆ. We can, it is true, compute their eyes, which comprise more than sixteen thousand, namely, about eight thousand in each of the compound organs placed laterally upon the head, each separate eye being an hexagonal facet furnished with its separate lens and capillary branch of the optic nerve, and also edged with short hair; in this hair, therefore, may lie the particular sensation which guides them, for we cannot be sure that this large congeries of hexagonal facets facilitate sight in the dark, as in number and position they do not exceed or differ from the analogous structure and number of the same organs in many other insects which we know to be only seers by day, and which repose at night; but the hairy addition to the eyes of these bees is a structure not observed in them.

This constitution of the hive and its various operations continues during the remainder of the season until the approach of winter cautions them from venturing abroad, when, if the temperature of the hive is much lowered, they hibernate and remain in a torpid condition until the sunshine of the following spring, and with it the flowering of plants, rouses them again to resume their suspended labours. The population of the hive having continued to increase, although not so vigorously as at first, up to the very intrusion of winter, and the renewed year giving renewed energy to the queen, the population thence rapidly further increasing, it becomes inconveniently thronged, especially as spring advances and hot weather sets in. These promptings then urge her to lay drone eggs, for which preparations have already been made by the workers, who have already framed for their reception—they being much larger insects—larger cells moulded precisely in the same manner, and which are also used occasionally as receptacles for honey, and always skirt the bottom of the several combs. This task she has completed in about five days, and it is carried on precisely in the same way as is practised in the case of the neuters; and they are nurtured by nursing-workers just like them. Of these eggs she lays, as before said, about a thousand, and the workers by some instinctive faculty have framed about such a number of the needful cells. The transformations of the drone occupy about twenty-four or twenty-five days, of which three are passed in the maturing of the egg which then hatches into the larva. This occupies nearly seven days in attaining its full growth, and the remaining portion of the time is spent in its spinning its cocoon, in the same way as the larva of the worker does, and it changes into the imago. To effect all these changes in the transformations of all the sexes, a heat of about seventy degrees is indispensable, but that of the hive in summer is considerably higher. They as well as the workers are assisted to emerge from the cocoon by some of the older workers, who use their mandibles to bite through the enclosure, and who also help to cleanse them from their exuviÆ.

Concurrently with the formation of the brood cells of the drones, some of the workers are constructing cells to receive the royal eggs. These cells are totally unlike the other cells of the hive, and are of a sort of pear-shape five times as large as the drone cells, and are attached laterally to the edges of the comb in a vertical position, with the narrowest part, which is the orifice, hanging downwards. In the forming of these cells the workers are very lavish of their wax, making the coats of them thick and opaque, and they are irregularly rough outside, but within very smoothly polished. Just as the construction of these cells intervenes irregularly with the formation of the cells of the drones, so does the queen intermit at intervals the laying of the drone eggs to deposit occasionally an egg in one of the royal cells, which are not usually completed at the time she commences laying them, but are finished afterwards, even during the time the larva is growing. This provision seems to be made for the earliest development of the young queens after the drones come forth, with the possible prevision that the sooner all of these young queens are fertilized that are needful for the requirements of the swarms that the hive may throw off, the sooner will the hive be rid of the incumbrance and the consumption of stores caused by the drones. The transformations of the queens take place more rapidly than the others, for in sixteen days they are completed, of which three are occupied in hatching the egg, and for five they are feeding as larvÆ, and in that time attain their full growth; the cell is then closed in with a waxen cover by the workers, and the full-fed larva within is occupied in spinning its cocoon, which it takes twenty-four hours to accomplish. This cocoon is unlike that of the drones and workers, both of which completely enclose the pupa, but the royal larva only forms so much of a cocoon as will cover the head and thorax, and by which imperfection she unconsciously facilitates her destruction by her rivals in case they are permitted to attempt it before she emerges,—this being supposed to be the object of it, as the close texture of the silk of the cocoon would intercept the action of the rival queen’s sting. In this state she remains in complete repose up to a part of the twelfth day, and it takes about four days more to change into the imago, which is ready to emerge on the sixteenth. In her larva state she has been very carefully and profusely supplied by her nurses with the royal jelly, made in the manner before described. This royal jelly is very stimulating, it is pungent, rather acescent, and is very different from the food supplied to the drone- and worker-larvÆ. A great many of the drones being now perfect insects, some young queen, that is ready to go forth, is at length permitted to do so by her guardian protectors, for the old queen is already aware of her existence, and has more than once attempted her destruction, but from which she has been prevented. At a suitable opportunity this young queen issues, attended by a bevy of drones; she immediately ascends in a spiral direction high into the air, far out of sight, and is followed by her suitors. Their larger capacity of flight speedily permits them to overtake her, and they ascend above her; one being favoured, the rest descend again, and either at once return to the hive or frolic about in its vicinity. It is not long before this young queen returns, matured into an incipient mother. Now comes renewed hostility from her own parent, who is still prevented from the murderous assault, but who succeeds in ejecting her young rival. During this contest the hive has become a scene of confusion, and the preliminaries and accompaniments of fresh swarming take place, and in going forth she is accompanied by a large body of the present population, and thus the first swarm of the fresh season is thrown off. Other queens become gradually developed, and other swarms similarly accompany them, but each swarm successively diminishes in the number of its participating emigrants, the last consisting perhaps of not more than two thousand. The order of the hive is speedily restored after each swarming convulsion has subsided, until the population being sufficiently reduced, the motive to leave is destroyed, and the queen is then permitted to execute her murderous onslaught on the hapless young queens, which are either still embryonic, or, if developed, have not been allowed to leave their cells; but, where they have done so, and are still within the hive, her attendants and the old queen’s attendants open their ranks, and the furious rivals attack each other. The contest is sharp but short, the young queen is stung to death, the body is conveyed away, and the old queen reigns paramount. Her next effort is to destroy the royal brood in their cells; the cells she tears to pieces, the young ones within, where developed, may be heard uttering a plaintive cry, whilst she sounds a triumphant note as loud as the highest note of a flute. Her throne is now free from pretenders, and after the expulsion of the drones, which then takes place, the entire harmony of the hive is restored for another season. The queen meanwhile is growing old, a new spring has set in, her stock of eggs is being exhausted, and mortality, which afflicts even royalty itself, lays her low. Now comes into operation that extraordinary faculty possessed by these insects. Her death has taken place after she had laid new spring eggs, which are to produce a further addition of neuters and a supply of drones. The loss of their queen is soon communicated to the inhabitants of the hive, confusion ensues, and labour is suspended. They group about in clusters of a dozen or more, and after about a day’s intermission of the ordinary routine of labour they appear to have come to a resolution. Bustle is again renewed, and several, as the delegates of the general body, pass into the midst of the neuter brood cells, tear down the separating walls of three, kill two of the very young larvÆ, convert these three cells into one by fitting alterations, and transfer the care of this vermicle to the nursing-bees. Under their care, they heedfully feeding her with the royal jelly, her transformations speedily are completed, and whilst this is being done, drones are coming forth. As soon as she is ready she is aided to quit her cell. She now leaves the hive, and the drones which are already perfected accompany her; she makes her wedding tour in the air, and quickly returns as the queen-regnant of the rejoicing monarchy, whose vacant throne is again royally occupied, and the entire harmony of the hive renewed.

The quantity of pollen that is collected in the course of a season, by the diligence of the bees, has been estimated at from sixty to seventy pounds; and the weight of the honey, so affluent a hive will produce by abstraction from the bees, is calculated at as much as sometimes fifty pounds. This, however, must be vastly exceeded by the quantity collected, as it is being constantly consumed for sustenance, and for the secretion of the raw material of wax, as well as for the production of the liquid which converts this into its mouldable consistency. It is possible to estimate pretty nearly the quantity of honey required for each secretion of the raw material, by finding what the honey-bag will contain when gorged, as it is this quantity which seems to make the eight scales of it upon the ventral plates, for they cannot convey more up when they hang themselves in the festoons to secern it. But it is impossible to know what addition this liquid from their mouths makes to it when they manipulate it into its plastic state, other bees often undertaking this task, which may apply themselves to it with a larger stock than the wax secreters possess, they being perhaps already exhausted by their labours. It is a singular fact that wax is more rapidly and largely made by feeding the bees with dissolved sugar than from the honey they collect themselves, the sugar thus evidently containing more of its productive elements.

Some of the labours within the hive are apparently continued at night, or the bees may be then revelling, after the day’s toils, in social enjoyment, or otherwise more worthily employed; for, to use the words of the benevolent apiarian, the Rev. Wm. Chas. Cotton, “If you listen by a hive about nine o’clock, you will hear an oratorio sweeter than any at Exeter Hall. Treble, tenor, and bass are blended in the richest harmony. Sometimes the sound is like the distant hum of a great city, and sometimes it is like a peal of hallelujahs.”

This is the history of the hive and its inhabitants. Modifications may occasionally occur, but nothing of sufficient consequence seriously to affect or neutralize this ordinary routine. It would occupy space already too largely encroached upon to go into these minute particulars, which, although parts of their general history, where treated of in special detail, are not necessarily the province of a work which speaks of them as but one member of the family of which it collectively discourses. As the space occupied by what was really essential to be known about them, has exceeded the due dimensions of their share to it, although of paramount interest, infinitely greater than that which attaches to the economy of the whole of the rest of the group combined, it will not, I trust, be considered that I terminate abruptly, in drawing here to a close.

The close of the work concurs with the termination of the history of its crowning marvel; and I take leave of my readers, with a reiteration of the hope that it may stimulate them to undertake a study, wherein, each step of their progress, expands the delightful contemplation of the manifestations of the predominance of a vast design, emanating from the paternal benevolence of an august, supreme, and wisely superintending Providence.