210 BRITISH BEES. 



able Andrena as may happen to visit the flowers they are 

 upon ; and; it is said, that they are thus conveyed hy the 

 bee to its domicile, and there feed to maturity upon the 

 larva of the bee. I have no faith in the correctness of this 

 statement, for it is not credible that so small a creature 

 as the larva of an Andrena could fully feed the larva of 

 so large a beetle. Observation has not satisfactorily con- 

 firmed it, and the connection may be, as in the former 

 case, merely accidental. 



Although, perhaps, not a strictly scientific course, it is 

 certainly a matter of convenience in very long genera 

 to break them up into divisions, framed upon external 

 characters, readily perceptible, and, by which means, the 

 species sought for may be more readily found. This I 

 have done in the preceding list of the species, and which 

 are based upon very prominent features. A slight diva- 

 rication from the typical neuration of the wing is ob- 

 served in some species, but it is not of a sufficiently 

 marked character to afford a divisional separation, and 

 even much less a subgeneric one. I have therefore passed 

 it unnoticed. The commencing entomologist will often 

 find considerable difficulty at first in determining the 

 species of this genus, for so much depends upon con- 

 dition ; and where the colour of the pubescence is the 

 chief characteristic, a very little exposure to the atmo- 

 sphere much alters their physiognomy, but time, patience, 

 and perseverance will ripen the novice into an adept. 

 The connection of the males with the females, from their 

 ordinarily great dissimilarity, was only to be accom- 

 plished by positive observation, but now that this, in the 

 majority of cases, is effected, good descriptions facilitate 

 their discrimination. 



The most conspicuous species are the Hattorfiana and 



