132 HYMENOPTERA. 



Last, but not least, we must close our notice of the Hymenoptera 

 with the Hive-Bee, Ajns Mellifica, Linn., an insect now naturalised 

 over the whole world. It is a blackish pubescent insect, with the 

 thorax and legs more or less reddish ; the males and females 

 measure about two-thirds of an inch in length, and the workers 

 are somewhat smaller. 



The ancients were aware that the bees were governed by a 

 sovereign, which, however, they supposed to be the king, and not 

 the queen. Another widely-diffused error, which we meet with 

 both among the Hebrews and Romans, was that bees were either 

 bred from or made their nest in dead carcasses. It is only within 

 the last few centuries that their real economy has been rationally 

 investigated; and though numbers of good observers have devoted 

 much time and attention to the subject, much still remains to be 

 done before their habits are thoroughly understood. As long 

 accounts of their economy are to be found in almost every book 

 on natural history, we may perhaps be allowed to pass the subject 

 over in the present work, only remarking that on the whole the 

 habits of bees appear to be less interesting than those of ants, and 

 that they seem to be decidedly inferior in intelligence. 



