1886.] 137 



upwards, going in so complotoly as to be entirely hidden, and no entomological 

 Dogberry on day duty would suspect its presence. However, it soon comes out, its 

 thorax striped with yellow pollen from the anthers, which it at once carries to fertilize 

 another flower, and so on again and again : " Sic vos non vobis " may well be said of 

 such bees as this, which thus unconsciously have contrived a double debt to pay. Mr. 

 Newman believed this bee to be the neuter of No. 4, and this was correct if my 

 No. 4 be the same, of which there may be a doubt (see No. 7). 



No. 3. Bombus terrestris, var. lucorum, $ . — This does not enter the flower at 

 all. Mr. Newman says it alights on the flower stalk just below the flower, cuts a hole 

 in the corolla close to the nectary and thrusts its tongue or labial apparatus through 

 this to the nectary. I have, however, often seen it not only act thus, but also alight 

 on the flower, yet never attempt to enter it, but crawl at once down the outside to 

 the base of the corolla. I thought the size of the bee might have been against its 

 entry, but as I afterwards saw larger bees go in, this theory was defective, it tlierefore 

 appeared that it sought honey only and took the readiest way to get it. I saw no 

 9 of this var. 



No. 4. Bombus Derhaniellus, ? . — This large bee was of too great a size to get 

 into the flower, so standing on the lower lip it opened the mouth of the corolla and 

 thrusting itself in as far as it could thus reached the nectary, as could be seen through 

 the sides of the tube, the posterior part of the body remaining exposed to view ; 

 when the bee came out the thorax was marked with pollen like No. 2, the $ . 



No. 5. Apis melUfica (Ligurian race). This (not mentioned by Newman) goes 

 on the outside of the flower from below and proceeds to extract the honey like No. 3. 

 Simultaneously, however, I saw other bees of this species go to the mouth of the 

 corolla and open it, but they did not enter ; they only stood on the lower lip and 

 pushed their heads in; and I repeatedly noticed that they reached only to the pollen- 

 iferous anthers with their fore-legs ; so it was clear they required pollen only. I 

 further noticed that the honey collectors went from flower to flower always on the 

 same errand, and that the pollen gatherers acted similarly, neither taking up the 

 occupation of the other. Here was clearly an economic division of labour. 



No. 6. Bombus terrestris, var. virginalis, $ . — This settled on the lower lip of 

 the flower and pushed itself into the corolla as far as it could, leaving a considerable 

 portion of its abdomen and its hind-legs in sight: this I saw repeatedly. It evi- 

 dently went to the nectary for honey, for the pollen fi'om the anthers remained thick 

 on the thorax and was regarded as an encumbrance, as the bee occasionally rested on 

 a leaf and did its best to get rid of the dust with its fore-legs. If it had intended to 

 gather pollen it would not have acted in this way. It is very singular that to get 

 the honey the procedure was so difl^erent from that of No. 3 — another variety of the 

 same species. 



No. 7. Bombus terrestris, var. virginalix, ? . — This also settled on the lower 

 lip of the flower, aiid tlirust itself as far as it could into the corolla, but being the 

 largest of all the bees the whole of the abdomen remained in view. It evidently 

 reached the nectary with its tongue ; honey was the object of its action, for the 

 pollen formed a large stripe on the thorax, and efllorts like those of No. 6 were made 

 to remove it. This may have been the " very large bee " mentioned by Newman as 

 his No 4, in which case his belief that it was the ? of No. 2 was incorrect. 



