HUMBLE-BEES. 241 



their modes of life, having been subsequently detected, 

 the humble-bees of this country are now very properly 

 divided into two generic groups, Bombus and Apatiius. 

 They may be distinguished from the hive-bee, and 

 other races bearing affinity to them, by having the 

 simple eyes arranged in a curve, instead of forming a 

 triangle ; by having an impression in the shape of a 

 cross on the forehead ; the labrum transverse, and two 

 distinct spines at the apex of the posterior tibiae. More 

 obvious characters are afforded by their large, com- 

 paratively rounded, hirsute bodies, generally adorned 

 with bands of light-yellow or red. Upwards of 

 forty different species are described as inhabitants of 

 Britain ; but as the three distinct races of females, 

 males, and workers, belonging to the same species, 

 often bear little resemblance to one another, and as 

 the hair or down covering their bodies, often of the 

 gayest colours, changes with age, like the plumage of 

 birds, it is by no means unlikely that individuals of 

 the same family, and differing only in sex or age, 

 have, in some instances, been described as of a dif- 

 ferent species. Speaking of the hirsuties, or hairy 

 covering of this family, and of its liability to change 

 of colour, Kirby remarks,* " An insect recently 

 hatched appears in this respect a different species 

 from the same when it has been long exposed to 

 wind and weather. Thus, for instance, Apis Mus- 

 corum, which, when fresh from the pupa, is dis- 

 tinguished by a thorax covered with hair of a fine 

 orange colour, and by an abdomen whose coat is a 

 * Monographia Apum Angliae, i. 207. 



