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"2. Apis hortorum, Linn. This is very similar to the last in appearance ; its body 

 is longer, but not so thick. It is easily distinguished from Apis terrestris by the quick- 

 ness and volatile nature of its flight; it flies much nearer the ground on all occasions, 

 in a sort of jerking and uneven way. The males of this species are much more diffi- 

 cult to be distinguished from the workers by a casual observer, being of the same 

 colour ; but their antennas are much longer, and the abdomen much broader and more 

 hairy. The nests of this species are also in the ground, and generally about half a 

 foot further from the entrance than those of Apis terrestris ; indeed, much time must 

 be lost by these insects in going and returning ; they usually prefer old drains, or the 

 sides of old walls, for their habitations, and are not nearly so strong in numbers as A. 

 terrestris, generally not more than from twenty to fifty in a nest. The male is among 

 the first to appear ; I have seen them at the end of June : the queen is a month later 

 than in Apis terrestris. I have have had several colonies of them, but they were never 

 such favourites, not being so docile, and more irascible than the last described, so I 

 had fewer nests of this species than of the other four. The drones are of the same 

 habits precisely as the last ; they are deprived of the faculty of returning to the parent 

 nest after once leaving it, and these males can be more easily discovered after their 

 exit ; and they become regular wanderers, even more than any other species. Any 

 observer may watch them in their unsteady flight, very near the ground, paying visits 

 to the roots of trees, holes in banks, &c. At first appearance they look as though they 

 intended to alight at these haunts, but this they never do, until a round of probably a 

 quarter of a mile is made in this manner, when they require nourishment ; they then 

 return to the thistles and flowers, where they frequently remain all night, particularly 

 in cold weather, and may be seen dormant in the morning ; when taken in the warm 

 hand they soon recover and fly away. These bees I have also observed in connexion 

 at various times on the wing. Though T never saw the connexion commence, I be- 

 lieve it be on the ground, as I once watched a male bee go to a spot and stop : on my 

 reaching it, I found a queen with the drone, but they both flew away ; probably my 

 visit to the place was too quickly made. 



" The nests of this species being further in the ground, and often amongst old 

 drains, are more difficult to take. When a boy, I have often made an attempt to take 

 them, and failed ; and in the neighbourhood where I reside at present, the wet sum- 

 mer and autumn of 1839, destroyed the greatest part of this species of bee, and they 

 have never been so plentiful since. They seem to be more numerous in the midland 

 and southern counties than in the North. I have found great numbers in Northamp- 

 tonshire ; and some years since, in the Isle of Thanet, I observed hundreds of the 

 drones of this species vagabondizing about, and scarcely any of the Apis terrestris : 

 close to the sea-side they were more numerous than anywhere else. The Apis horto- 

 rum does not interfere with the hive-bee in its pasture ; they select large flowers which 

 the other bees cannot reach with their proboscis. This bee is very fond of the Digi- 

 talis or foxglove. It is beautiful to see how it opens the flower of the great red snap- 

 dragon, particularly the queen mother. Were a small bee to get into this flower, the 

 collapse is so strong it could not force its way out, consequently it never attempts it. 

 In Creation, how wonderfully is everything adapted to its particular purpose ! The 

 Apis hortorum, having the longest proboscis of the four most common species, searches 

 for a different set of flowers from its congeners. Despising the while clover, the sweet- 

 scented lime-blossoms, and preferring the wood honeysuckle, the foxglove, snap-dra- 

 gon, and others of the largest and wildest flowers of the forest ; when it condescends 



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