120 ON COLOUR 



bronzy head and thorax, and in three the bronzy 

 colour extends to the abdomen ; there is also 

 another with a very dull green tinge on the 

 thorax ; besides these there is a little bright blue 

 bee, Ceratina (unfortunately a great rarity in 

 this country) and two or three species of Osmia, 

 showing more or less tendency to bronziness, and 

 one which is distinctly bluish ; but, considering 

 our indigenous species number nearly 400, this 

 is a very small, and compared with other coun- 

 tries I should think an abnormally small, pro- 

 portion. 



Species with bodies banded like a wasp's 

 are much more abundant no less than eighty of 

 our native kinds having this style of coloration. 

 The bands may be reduced to lateral spots, but 

 such cases, I think, are only modifications of the 

 banded scheme. 



Black species with a more or less pronounced 

 red band across the body number about seventy, 

 and a general testaceous or yellowish colour 

 occurs in a few ants, but not elsewhere among 

 the British aculeates. Nearly all the rest are 

 black or dark brown so far as the actual surface 

 of the body is concerned ; but amongst the bees 



