554 APIS. (**. c. 2.) 



of the thorax, and which, indeed, is scarcely visible 

 to the naked eye. I have a specimen of this in my 

 cabinet : it furnishes an instance of the tendency 

 of these insects to vary, even such as have been 

 Recently disclosed, (for of this description is my 

 specirtien), in the colour of their hirsuties. If the 

 band vanishes from the thorax, it may vanish, like- 

 wise, for aught we know, from the abdomen ; in 

 that case, a. would become A. soroensis, Fab. I 

 mention this, to shew how very liable we are to err 

 in our determination of species in this family. Ray 

 has given the male and common aculeate as dis- 

 tinct species, misled by the different hue of the 

 anterior part of the thorax, and of the abdominal 

 band, which in the one is pale, and in the other 

 tawny-yellow. These, however, in variety $ of the 

 male, are also of the latter colour, but a. is the 

 most common. I have often been amused, at the 

 time of the sycamore*s being in flower, with seeing 

 these insects, by myriads, busily engaged upon its 

 very summit, in collecting honey and pollen from 

 its blossoms, and making a hum that might be 

 heard at a considerable distance, and this even after 

 sun set. They are as alert in the morning ; 1 have 

 frequently seen them at work in my garden, when 

 the gooseberry was in blossom, before seven o'clock. 



Soroensis.QB, A. atra, hirsuta, ano albo. 



jipis Soroensis hirsuta atra, ano albo. 

 Fab. Ent. Syst. Em. n. 13. 



