38o HYMENOPTERA ACULEATA. 



that very little need be said here. A new community ia 

 started by the queen of an old nest or hive leaving it when 

 the new brood becomes too numerous for it to be able to 

 accommodate the whole community, and taking with her or 

 being followed by a large number of the workers. These 

 select a suitable place to form a new nest, or are collected 

 by a bee keeper into a new hive, where the workers make 

 new comb, and in which a new family is reared. In many 

 respects the habits of Apis resemble those of Bomhus, but 

 the beautifully formed hexagonal waxen cells in which the 

 honey is stored is a great advance on the rough honey 

 receptacles oi Bomhus ; h\ii Apis, of course, requires food 

 for the community through the winter, whereas the com- 

 munities of Bomhus only exist during the summer months. 

 According to Smith {Cat. Brit. Hymenopt., 2nd edit. 1876), 

 there are nine species of Apis ; five occur in India and the 

 Eastern Archipelago, one in China, one in Africa, one in 

 Madagascar and Rodriguez, and one in Europe, N. Africa, 

 etc. Of this last there are several varieties, the best known 

 one being the Ligurian bee ; this may be known from 

 ordinary melUfica in having the basal segments of the abdo- 

 men more or less extensively testaceous. 



A. mcllifica, Linn. — Brown, clothed with pale brown 

 hairs ; eyes in the S occupying the entire side of the head, 

 and meeting on the vertex, in the ? and 5 remote on the 

 vertex and not nearly touching the base of the mandibles; 

 pubescence of the thorax very dense and short in the (J, 

 longer and more sparing in the ? and ^ J wings nearly 

 hyaline ; abdomen pubescent, the pubesence shorter in the 

 cj, very blunt at the apex in this sex, very elongate 

 and pointed in the ? ; segments in all the sexes more or 

 less testaceous or piceous at the apex, and in the ? and ? 

 with bands of slightly paler pubescence at the base ; legs 

 clothed with pale brownish hairs. 



L. 13-17 mm. 



Common, but rarely, if ever, found wild in this country. 



