INTRODUCTION 5 
parallel. They may perhaps with their music 
often convey to the broken-hearted and lonely exile 
in Siberia the momentarily cheering reminiscence 
of joyful youth, and by this bright and brief in- 
terruption break the monotonous and painful dul- 
ness of his existence, recalling the happier days of 
wore. > 
In the Himalayas they are to be met with at all 
altitudes from 2,000 to over 12,000 feet. But in the 
plains of India there are none, nor do they exist in 
Africa, except along the north coast, and Australia 
and New Zealand have no native species. Where 
they occur in the tropics they are generally confined 
to the mountains, although Brazil has a few indolent- 
looking species. 
It is safe to say that the total number of species, 
z.e. of forms that do not interbreed, exceeds a 
hundred, and that the lesser varieties amount to 
more than a thousand. 
It is charming to watch a populous colony of 
humble-bees busy on its comb, each individual 
wearing the beautiful livery of its particular species. 
Each species has its own peculiarities of habit and 
disposition, so that even in the British fauna there 
are plenty of different natures to study. 
Investigating the habits of humble-bees, and 
experimenting in different ways with them, has been 
a source of great pleasure to me since boyhood. 
Colonies have been kept under observation in arti- 
ficial domiciles ; the ins and outs of their lives have 
1 British Bees, by W. E. Shuckard, 1868, page 78. 
