110 



Mr. Smith then made the following observations : — 



" When, at the June Meeting of this Society, a paper by Mr. H. W. Newman on 

 some species of humble-bees was read, I, having paid some attention to their specific 

 differences, and also to their economy, felt it incumbent on me to offer to the Society 

 a few remarks as the results of my experience. In differing from Mr. Newman re- 

 specting the habits of the drones, or males, I gave but the result of my observations, 

 which induced me to adopt a contrary opinion ; this opinion, as I stated at the time, 

 was drawn from circumstantial evidence, and admitted even of the possibility of error ; 

 but T felt an additional persuasion to its adoption from having the support of Mr. 

 Kirby, who, in his ' Monographia Apum Anglice ' (ii. 367) says, ' I have myself seen 

 this insect entering the nidus of Apis lapidaria ;' and what appears to do away with all 

 doubt upou the subject (of its being the male), 'I saw this insect in the collection of 

 the celebrated Peter Collinson, with a memorandum affixed to it, that he had seen it 

 connected with A. lapidaria.' Mr. Newman now objects to my observations, at which 

 I am surprised ; because in making observations, it should be the sole object of the 

 naturalist to elicit truth, and he should always bear in mind that ' Nature is commu- 

 nicative at intervals only, and she must consequently be assiduously watched ; ' still 

 it is only to few that she raises the veil. 



" Since making the remarks alluded to, I have had the good fortune to have my 

 opinion confirmed by direct observation : the particulars are embodied in my notes 

 on the nest of Bombus Derhamellus, which, with permission, I will read to the Soci- 

 ety. Before doing so, however, I will make one or two remarks on other points con- 

 nected with the history of humble-bees as recorded by Mr. Newman. I cannot bring 

 myself to coincide in the opinion that males have prescribed rounds, from which they 

 never deviate, keeping in the same track ; because I have always found these, as well 

 as insects generally, influenced by the direction of the wind, the sun, and the situation 

 of such flowers as they most frequent ; and Mr. Newman's theory would tell against 

 his remark, that the males have not the organ of locality developed as in the females 

 and workers. 



" With regard to the localities of Bombus lapidarius, which Mr. Newman never 

 saw in Scotland, I made it a point to inquire of residents in that part of the kingdom. 

 From Mr. Little I received the whole of his black-and-red humble-bees captured in 

 various parts of Scotland, and all but two were B. lapidarius. 



" Mr. Newman limits the number of species of Bombus to four, considering all 

 others as mere varieties : this is certainly incorrect ; T am acquainted with twenty-two 

 distinct species found in Great Britain. In differing from the author of the paper on 

 the habits of the Bombinatrices in some particulars, I should be sorry indeed if he 

 should suppose that I doubted the veracity of his statements ; so far from that, I fully 

 appreciate the value of his remarks on their general history, and also on the various 

 particulars of numbers of the different species inhabiting the same nest, their modes of 

 construction, times of appearance, &c. : but I differ from him in the conclusions which 

 he draws from his observations, and can see nothing to uphold the assertion that ' Di- 

 vine Wisdom has deprived them (the males) entirely of the power or faculty of return- 

 ing to, or finding the nest.' 



" The following notes, in connexion with the observations of Mr. W. H. S. Wal- 

 cott, will, I think, prove conclusive on that point. 



