The genus Apathus very much resembles Bombus in its characteristics. But it has no pollen-baskets in the female, the tibia of the male is convex on the outside, and there is no worker. The absence of the pollen-basket in the female and the convexity of the hind tibiae in the male are the most striking points of difference.

We naturally ask ourselves, why the Apathus does not possess the pollen-basket. The reason is, that it does' not require P It does not work, but subsists on the labour of others, and that in a very curious manner. As a general rule the presence of parasites in a nest is exceedingly troublesome to the rightful inmates, who resent with all their power the

Mr. F. Smith, who has paid great attention to this curious ■ ubject, and has thoroughly tested and investigated the re searches of Kh-by, the original discoverer of the dlunction

between the Apathus and tlie Humble Bee, lias tlie following remarks on these insects : —

Although the parasitic connection between these and the true Eombi has long been conjectured, no autlior has hitherto found them in the nests of the working species. Although I have taken or examined a very large number of the nests of Bombus, I have only occasionally met with the parasites in them ; but never in the nests of the brown Humble Bees. .

‘ What office these Bees perform in the economy of the nest has not been discovered. They live on the most friendly terms with the industrious part of the community, and it is probable that upon them devolves some important office, the nature of which it would be very interesting to discover. It has been supposed, from the very close resemblance of the Aputhi to the Bombi, that the former are an idle race reared at the expense of the industrious Bees, and wearing a livery in imitation of them, for the purpose of deception. But, there can be little doubt of these aristocrats of the community performing important and necessary duties highly conducive to the general prosperity of the whole. That the close resemblance of these Bees is not for the purpose of deception is at once proved by the fact of Apathus barbatellus, a yellowbearded Bee, being found in the nest of Bombus Derhamellus, a black species, having the tip of the body red ; and we have already seen that amongst the solitary Bees the greatest difference in appearance exists.’

The colour of . this species is black, with a broad orange band in front of the thorax. The abdomen is shining and less covered with down than is the case with the true Humble Bees. There is a little white down on the sides of the third segment, followed by yellowish dowm on the fourth and fifth, and the sixth has a little reddish tuft at the tip. This is, the colouring of the female. That of the male is somewhat similar but brighter, the wings are slightly clouded at their tips, and there is some yellow down on the scutellum and the first segment of the abdomen. The insect is quite a common one, aud is parasitic in the nest of the Common Humble Bee (Bombus terrestris).

Tue whole of Woodcut XXXVIII. is devoted to one insect.

the. common Hive Beb {^^is meliifica)- '‘iThe three-sexes; a.re shoAvn at Figs. -I, 2, and 3. -Fig. 1 represents the perfect or ‘ que’en,’ .of . which there are very , few in one female, one that is active. Fig. 2 is. the male nr community, and only ‘drone’ Bee,’, of which a considerable number, exist for a limited penod, and Fig.'S is the worker, of which the popula'tion of the community is chiefly composed. ■ ■=- ■

. 1. Ajiis mellifica, female. 2. Do., male. 3. Do., oenter. a. Antenna, female. b. Hind leg, male. • c. Tongue of male. d. Aiiteniia,' male. e. Mandible,' male. /. Hind leg, neuter. , g. Hind leg, female. ^ A- Sting and _enom. glands. j

In this genus -the eyes of the inale are very large, meeting on the.ctown, as may be seen at Fig. 2,. and the tibias pf tlie hind legs are slender at the base, gradually widening, tq ;t|ie end, as shown at Fig. b. The eyes of the female and worker are. comparatively small and unhairy. The ■\vorkers have the basal joint of the tarsi of the hind legs concave, and covered with transverse hairy ridges, as shown at Fig. /. That of the

perfect female, or queen, is smooth, as shown at g. The antennae, too, are different in the sexes, as may be seen by referring to Figs, a and d, the former representing the antenna of the female, and d that of the male.

I may mention here that the little hieroglyphic marks attached to the figures on this and a few other woodcuts denote the sex. They are, in fact, the old astronomical figures used to denote the planets by a sort of short-hand. The circle with the barbed point was used as the emblem of Mars, and is employed by naturalists to denote the male sex. The circle with the crossed line below it was the emblem of Venus, and denotes the female sex, while the circle with the uncrossed line denotes the imperfect female, or neuter.

A detailed account of this wonderful insect would be absobitely impossible within the limited space at our command, inasmuch as the whole volume would be consumed in sucli an undertaking. I will, therefore, only mention a few of the more salient points connected with the economy of the Hive Bees, and leave the reader to look for further information into the many excellent works which have been written expressly on this subject by men practically skilled in beekeeping.

The constitution of the community, or, as we popularly call it, the hive, differs from that of other social insects.

There is but one perfect female permitted to live within the hive, her duty being a very simple one — namely, to lay the enormous number of eggs from which proceed the future swann.s. She never leaves the hive except when she issues into the air to find a mate, and she does no work of any kind, not even requiring to feed herself. In form she is somewhat longer than the worker, and, though, when yoiing, she is scarcely different from the worker in size, she may be recognised by the shortness of her wings, and the inanner in which they cross eacli other at the tips as they lie at rest on lier back. Her whereabouts in the hive can soon be detected by a practised eye, as there is always a cluster of Bees around lier, with their heads towards their sovereign. They behave as politely as any modern courtier. Wherever she goes they go too, but they never turn their backs on her, always keeping a small space clear round her, just large enough to enable her to

walk, and advancing, retreating, or sidling as she happens to

move.

The males, or drones, are comparatively numerous. They can be at once recognised by their greater thickness, and the blunt abdomen with its little tufts of hair. Even on the wing the dione Bee can be distinguished by its low, dull, deep hum. It seems to be much more sluggish in its ways than the worker. Some years ago, when I was engaged in reproducing the dissections of John Hunter, I supplied myself with drone Bees, by watching the entrance of the hive, and taking the drones off the foot-board as they came out of the hive. They seldom troubled themselves to make any effort ‘at escape, and I could take as many as I liked without even of the workers. arousing the anger

As to the workers themselves, they are so familiar that nothing need be said about their appearance.

The construction of the nest differs from that of any other insect, though it bears a great resemblance to that of the wasp or the hornet. The cells are hexagonal, but are made of wax instead of paper. They are double, being set end to end, or rather, base to base, and lie nearly horizontally, instead of perpendicularly as in the wasp tribe. We will glance at each of these point s, and will first take the material of which the nest or ‘ comb ’ is made.

This, as we all know, is wax, and, as most of us know, is secreted by the Bee, and not gathered from flowers, as was formerly thought to be the case. When the Bees are about to build a new comb they hang in strings, holding by each other’s feet and remain in that position for a considerable time, expiration of that period, the under side sTde of of the Ih insect be examined, six tiny white crescents will be seen. These crescents are the edges of the wax plates, which pr^ect from beneatti the little flaps called ‘ wax-pockets.’ ^^lth the exercise of a little care, the plates of wax may be removed from the pockets, and put up as specimens. Much care, however must be taken of them, as I have learned by xpenenco. I had, with some trouble, secured the six plates of o/T^ V arranged them in their order upon a slip

b into a bottle One ne bright summer day, a visitor was examining the series of bee-

dissections, and was particularly, pleased with tlie wax plates. He took the bottle to the window to examine the plates .more, easily, held the bottle in the hot rays of the sun, and melted the six plates into six formless waxen drops.

A sufficient quantity of wax being obtained, the Bees set to work at kneading it with their jaws, and continue to do so until they have made it quite plastic. They then begin their labours, and, urged by an instinet which is. quite beyond our construct with this substance a double set of comprehension, perfectly hexagonal cells, which practically illustrate the problem of constructing a vessel which shall 'consume the minimum of material and hold the maximum of contents.

mathematical problems involved in the structure of the The bee-cell are most interesting, but there is not sufficient space at our command. I would, therefore, refer the reader to iny ‘ Homes without Hands,’ page 428, in which these problems are given in detail. Suffice it to say that the key to the structure of the bee-cell lies in the angles of the three equal plates whieh form the base of the cell. lozenge-shaped

If the reader will examine a fresh bee-comb he will see that the edges of the cells are much thickened and rounded, besides darker and redder than the wax which forms the being rather material with which this is done is termed ‘ prosides. The substance obtained by the Bees from polis,’ and is a gummy trees, among which the horse-chestnut is conspicuous. certain is familiar with the sticky substance that coats; the Everyone tree, and guards them from the weather. This is buds of this of the propolis, and the Bees may be seen the principal source scraping off and carrying home this material, which continually use as a cement as well as a strengthening edging to the' they csllst the comb, tlie reader will see that the cells

still looking at but that they slope slightly from are not quite\orizontal, The object of this slope is that they shall the mouth to base. the honey which is stored in them, and more easily receive first placed in the cells, nearly as transparent which is, when as water. In fact, it is much of the consistency of and liquid substance. It is not sucr^e. Honey is a really peculiar eau from the flowers, and simply transferred obtained ready-made to the cells.

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