374 INSECTS AT HOME. 



between the Apatlius and the Humble Bee, has the following 

 remarks on these insects : — 



' Although the parasitic connection between these and the 

 true Bombi has long been conjectured, no author has hitherto 

 found them in the nests of the working species. Although 

 I have taken or examined a very large number of the nests 

 of Bombus, I have only occasionally met with the parasites in 

 them ; but never in the nests of the brown Humble Bees. . . . 



' What office these Bees perform in the economy of the nest 

 has not been discovered. They live on the most friendly 

 terms with the industrious part of the community, and it is 

 probable that upon them devolves some important office, the 

 nature of which it would be very interesting to discover. It 

 has been supposed, from the very close resemblance of the 

 Apathi to the Bombi, that the former are an idle race reared 

 at the expense of the industrious Bees, and wearing a livery 

 in imitation of them, for the purpose of deception. But, 

 there can be little doubt of these aristocrats of the community 

 performing important and necessary duties highly conducive to 

 the general prosperity of the whole. That the close resem- 

 blance of these Bees is not for the purpose of deception is at 

 once proved by the fact of Apathus barbatellus, a yellow- 

 bearded Bee, being found in the nest of Bombus Derhamellus, 

 a black species, having the tip of the body red ; and we have 

 already seen that amongst the solitary Bees the greatest 

 difference in appearance exists.' 



The colour of this species is black, with a broad orange 

 band in front of the thorax. The abdomen is shining and less 

 covered with down than is the case with the true Humble 

 Bees. There is a little white down on the sides of the third 

 segment, followed by yellowish down on the fourth and fifth, 

 and the sixth has a little reddish tuft at the tip. This is the 

 colouring of the female. That of the male is somewhat similar 

 but brighter, the wings are slightly clouded at their tijDS, and 

 there is some yellow down on the scutellum and the first 

 segment of the abdomen. The insect is quite a common one, 

 and is parasitic in the nest of the Common Humble Bee 

 {Bumhus terrestris). 



The whole of Woodcut XXXVIII. is devoted to one insect, 



