BEES AND THEIK COUNTERFEITS. 13 



oi Euyio&sa diiaidiata is not only extremely different, but its 

 appearance is of that striking character calculated to excite 

 immediate attention. Instead of being soft and furry after 

 the fashion of the humble-bee tribe and their allies, he is 

 entirely hard, smooth, and glittering — the entire body, thorax 

 and abdomen, and also the legs, being of a light vivid metallic 

 green, like that of our rose-beetle. It might be urged, on 

 the other hand, that, although not provided with a security 

 in the form of a disguise, a defence of another kind has been 

 substituted, in the suit of impenetrable plate-armour, of mag- 

 nificent green bronze, in which this insect is incased. But 

 I feel convinced that it is entirely futile to attempt to explain 

 the nature of providential arrangement, and point out the 

 secret purposes for which either apparent analogies or dis- 

 crepancies were devised. The best explanations offered, 

 indeed, are too full of contradictions to be for a moment 

 .seriously accepted as revelations of intended purpose. As a 

 ready example of the contradictions to which such specu- 

 lations must be liable, I may mention here, that although the 

 parasitic bee, which infests the nests of Euglossa dimidiata, is 

 entirely unlike the harvesting-bee, whose home he invades, 

 yet the doubly-unfortunate Euglossa has a second enemy, in 

 the form of a gigantic Dlptera, whose similarity to the bee is 

 most curious. This enormous fly-bee, Asilus fasciatus, has, it 

 is true, only two wings, but those being of deep brown to 

 half their length, and transparent for the remainder, bear an 

 extraordinary general resemblance to those of the bee ; while 

 the colouring of this handsome insect being nearly identical 

 with those of the bee, and the size and shape of the markings 

 being almost identical, the general resemblance becomes very 

 remarkable ; hence the conspicuous appearance of one enemy 

 is rendered utterly useless as a defence, while the seemingly 

 perfect disguise of another apparently favours his fatal entrance 

 to the nest." 



The handsome Xylocopa nigrita (Figs. 1 and 2 in the 

 coloured plate of " Bees and their Counterfeits ") is a native 

 of Sierra Leone, and remarkable for the full deep velvety 

 black of the greater part of the body, while the sides of the 



