221 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



HYMENOPTERA. ACULEATA. 



FROM the predaceous Hymenoptera we now turn to the 

 " Flower-lovers," or Bees. Familiar to all as are the 

 common Hive Bee, and the great velvety Humble Bee, 

 there are many species, little less common, which the 

 young observer can hardly persuade himself to accept 

 as Bees. Some are little black glossy creatures, hardly 

 larger than the common Ant; others, a little larger, are 

 glossy black and red ; others have a metallic lustre ; 

 and others again, as the parasitic Nomada, are banded 

 and spotted with black and yellow, yellow and red- 

 brown, yielding in showiness of colouring to none of 

 the Wasp or Sand-wasp tribes, and greatly resembling 

 some of these in form and general appearance.* 



It becomes necessary, therefore, to look for some 

 character which shall distinguish the Bees from other 

 insects resembling them in form or colouring. This is 

 found in the peculiar form of the hind leg, already 

 mentioned, page 187 (see fig. 52, and compare fig. 57, 

 p. 222) ; the first joint of the tarsus in the Bees being a 

 flattish oblong or long triangular plate, whilst in the 

 Wasps, Sand-wasps, &c., this joint is cylindrical. 



The purpose of this modification of form in the leg 

 of the Bee is discovered by observing the use made of 

 the limb by the larger number of species. The flattened 



* See Plate IX. 



