and Varieties of the Honey-Bee. 343 



the Banat, the Crimea, the islands and continent of Asia 

 Minor, and on the Caucasus. 



4. The Egyptian Bee is diffused from Egypt, through Syria and 



Arabia, and passes imperceptibly, through a lighter variety 

 occurring on the Himalaya and in China, into 



5. The specific African Bee, which extends over the whole of 



Africa, from Abyssinia and Senegambia to the Cape. 



6. The black Madagascar Bee is limited to Madagascar and the 



Mauritius. 



In the concluding portion of his paper the author treats of 

 the exotic Honey-Bees of the Old World distinct from Apis 

 mellifica. He confines his attention to the Old -World forms 

 because, although America possesses numerous species of honey- 

 gathering Bees, these belong to genera (Melipona and Trigond) 

 which differ greatly from the Hive-Bee both in characters and 

 in value ; so that wherever the European Bee has been intro- 

 duced, they have lost their importance as producers of wax and 

 honey. Some of the East-Indian species, on the contrary, ap- 

 pear to be of great value ; and their introduction into other suit- 

 able localities might be found useful. These Bees inhabiting 

 the continent and islands of India are also in considerable con- 

 fusion as regards their specific identity, too much stress having 

 been laid upon variations of colour in them, as in the varieties 

 of the European Bee : instead of thirteen species, described by 

 Fabricius, Latreille, Klug, Guerin, and Smith, the author con- 

 siders that there are only three, all belonging to the genus Apis, 

 but forming the following two groups : — 



Group I. Vertex distinctly narrowed by the large compound 

 eyes, so that the posterior ocelli are more distant from each other 

 than from the eyes. Abdomen remarkably elongated, somewhat 

 flattened above ; metatarsus of the hind legs with thirteen trans- 

 verse rows of bristles on the inside. In the anterior wings the 

 recurrent nervure issues very near the apex in the third cu- 

 bital cell. Here belongs Apis dorsata, Fab. (nigripennis, Lat.), 

 with its two colour varieties, Apis zonata, Guer., and A. zonata, 

 Smith. 



Group II. Vertex not perceptibly narrowed, so that the hinder 

 ocelli are not more distant from each other than from the com- 

 pound eyes. Abdomen oval, convex above ; metatarsus of the 

 hind legs with nine transverse rows of bristles on the inside. 

 Recurrent nervure issuing far from the apex in the third cubital 

 cell. Here belong, with Apis mellifica, the two smaller East- 

 Indian species, — 1. Apis indica, Fab. (socialis, Lat.), with its 

 varieties A. Peronii, Lat. ? A. Perrottetii, Guer., and A. nigra- 



