14. CURIOSITIE.S OK KNTOMOLOOV. 



abdomen are conspicuously fringed, and partly covered, with 

 milk-white furry hairs ; the effect of which call to mind the 

 appearance of an aged negro, of the same part of the African 

 coast, whose woolly hair has become white with age. The 

 legs, also, are thickly fringed on one side with a similar 

 white fur, and the face is white, with large brown eyes. The 

 wings are nearly opaque, and of deep dull purple, with a 

 metallic gloss, bronzy-red towards the extremities. The 

 TJiptera, or two-winged counterpart of this insect (Fig. 5 in 

 the coloured plate), " has all the characteristic contrasts of 

 black and white, similarly disposed, even to the white face 

 and brown eyes ; while the opaque, iridescent wings are pre- 

 cisely similar in tone and colour. The somewhat longer legs, 

 the single pair of wings, and the different structure of the 

 antennae, at once prove to the entomologist that these two 

 insects arc not only not the same, but that they belong even 

 to different ' orders.' They are, however, in all probability, 

 found together, like the other bees and Diptera \^hich so 

 strongly resemble each other — tlie larva of the Diptera, no 

 doubt, preying upon the larva of the bee. In jn'oof of this 

 hypothesis, it may be stated that both specimens were brought 

 to England from the west coast of Africa, the bee from Sierra 

 Leone, the bee-fly from Port Natal, and probably both will 

 eventually be found in the same district. The bee exhibits, 

 in an unusual degree, a peculiarity common to many of the 

 family, namely, a marked difference in the general aspect of 

 the two sexes." The other exotic bees fio:ui*ed in the coloured 

 plate are from South America. 



Some of the most beautiful of the exotic bees are parasites 

 and produce neither honey nor pollen ; but it is probable 

 that some of these may hereafter be found to have been in- 

 correctly classed as parasites, and be proved to be honey 

 collectors ; for the absence of the large flattened hollow in the 

 tibia or middle joint of the hind leg, which appears to be 

 absolutely necessary to the honey carrier, is not proof positive 

 of parasitism, for among Andrenidcv, the genus Prosopls, 

 although without the usual apparatus for collecting honey, 

 has nevertheless been recently proved to be a honey pro- 



