372 Mr. F. Smith on the Species and 



XXXVII. — On the Species and Varieties of the Honey-Bees be- 

 longing to the Genus Apis. By Frederick Smith. 



[Plate XIX.] 



In 1862 Dr. Gerstacker published his remarks " On the Geo- 

 graphical Distribution and Varieties of the Honey-Bee, with 

 Observations upon the Exotic Honey-Bees of the Old World"*. 

 Having in my own possession a large amount of material, and 

 also access to that preserved in other collections, I have devoted 

 considerable time to an attentive study of the species. The 

 result has been somewhat different from that arrived at by Dr. 

 Gerstacker. I have therefore thought it might be desirable that 

 I should publish the results of my own study of the genus. 



In my ' Catalogue of the Apida?' I enumerated fifteen species 

 of the genus Apis : one was overlooked at that time, and four I 

 have described since its publication, thus increasing the number 

 to twenty species. In the paper referred to, the fifteen catalogued 

 species, with the addition of two of those which I have subse- 

 quently described, are reduced to four by Dr. Gerstacker : why 

 he passed over the other two, which I described previous to 

 those he has noticed, it is difficult to imagine; but it was pro- 

 bably entirely an oversight. I fully concur in the necessity for 

 the reduction of the number of species effected by this learned 

 entomologist; but I am not prepared to go with him to the 

 same extent : I must therefore endeavour to show good reasons 

 for differing from such an authority. 



Our author remarks that " various races of Honey-Bees have 

 been described as distinct species by various authors/' but that 

 " they really present no distinctive specific characters." This 

 observation naturally leads to the inquiry, What are the distinc- 

 tive specific characters in the genus Apis ? Before I attempt to 

 answer that question I would offer a few remarks upon two or 

 three distinct and extensive genera of Bees, and will endeavour 

 to point out where, under certain conditions, distinctive charac- 

 ters are sometimes to be found. If I were to seek in the females 

 of many species of Bees for the distinctive characters of the 

 species, either in difference of form or in the sculpture of parts, 

 I should in all probability fail to discover any that I could, by 

 description, enable the entomologist easily to recognize; but if 

 I had each species before me in its entirety, that is, both sexes 

 of each species, my task would in all probability become a com- 

 paratively easy one. My knowledge of the male and female of 

 each species would place me in a position to enter upon the in- 

 vestigation with the necessary materials before me. I should, 

 in the first place, probably find broad and distinctive differences 

 * Annals, ser. 3. vol. xi. p. 2/0. 



