240 HUMBLE-BEES. 



pleased/' can hardly be observed without pleasure ; 

 while their incessant hum, which often assails our 

 ears in heathery uplands, where nearly all other 

 indications of life have ceased, forms one of the 

 most common of those rural sounds, the entire 

 effect of which is usually so agreeable. " There 

 are few associations of our childhood/' it has been 

 recently remarked, " more deep and lasting than 

 those connected with the pursuit and capture of 

 these beautiful creatures, some of which are remark- 

 able for their size, and the rich contrast which they 

 exhibit of velvet black and crimson, with bars of 

 brilliant yellow. This splendid attire, however, saves 

 them not from being rudely handled ; and we remem- 

 ber the day when an artificial bink, that is. a little 

 box made of clay, with a piece of glass at one end, 

 and a sprinkling of sugar at the other, contained as 

 many captives in proportion to its size as the black 

 hole at Calcutta." * 



Although so dissimilar in external aspect, a very 

 close connection in regard to structure can be traced 

 between the hive-bee and the kinds of which we 

 now treat. The respective genera are accordingly 

 placed in juxta-position in systematic arrangements. 

 For a long period these genera, as well as several 

 others, were confounded under the common name 

 of Apis, and it was not till a comparatively recent 

 date, that the humble-bees were separated, and the 

 generic term Bombus applied to them. A different 

 formation of certain parts, entailing a difference in 

 * Ency. Brit., Art. Entomology 



