HYMENOPTERA. 



the butterflies? It therefore appeared to me highly desirable 

 that a record of some of the phenomena of the past season, 

 as exhibited in the insect world, should form a portion of the 

 annual resume of the order Hymenoptera. 



Having given a sketch of some of the eff'ects of the past 

 ungenial season on wild bees, wasps, &c., I am enabled to 

 make my record much more complete, than I otherwise could 

 have done, through the kindness of Mr. Tegetmeier, the well- 

 known observer of bees, his remarks are as follows : — 



" The season of 1860 has been more unfavourable in its 

 effects on the hive-bee than any that has occurred for sixteen 

 or eighteen years. In the early part of the season, the number 

 of swarms that were thrown off" was about the usual average, 

 but the absence of food caused many of them to return to the 

 old hives even after the lapse of several days ; on exami- 

 nation, the hive deserted by*, the swarm was usually found to 

 contain a small piece of perfectly empty comb, the wax 

 forming it being probably secreted from the honey carried 

 off by the bees on leaving their old residence. 



** The secretion of honey in the tubes and nectaries of 

 flowers depends upon atmospheric influences not well ascer- 

 tained, as on one fine warm day the bees will be inactive, there 

 being no honey to collect ; and on another, of apparently pre- 

 cisely similar character, the secretion of honey will be pro- 

 fuse, and the bees consequently out in large numbers. 



"It is, however, certain, that cold ungenial seasons, at- 

 tended with much rain, are extremely unfavourable to the 

 formation of honey, and it is to these causes we must attri- 

 bute the almost total failure of the honey harvest this year. 

 Very few stocks will be found to have sufiicient food to enable 

 them to live through the winter, and surplus stores, or top 

 boxes of honey, have not been obtained, except in one or two 

 of the more favoured localities in the kingdom ; where, from 



