372 ANECDOTE OF A BEE. 



insects, was of no avail ; our Bee, nothing daunted, sawed 

 through the base of the corolla, where it joins the calyx, 

 with its fore legs, and then shoving it to the ground with 

 its head, sucked up the honey " ad libitum." Speaking of 

 the Bee, Paley observes, " The harmless plunderer rifles 

 the sweets, but leaves the flower uninjured ;" this wicked 

 insect, however, not only robs the blossom of its nectar, 

 but leaves ruin behind. Many years ago, I remember 

 noticing that the Humble-Bee of England, as he 



" Sits on the bloom, extracting liquid sweets," 



employs frequently his feet for the same purpose, in cases 

 where the tube of the corolla is of greater length than 

 usual ; as, for example in the Jasmine. 



In the forests of Celebes, I procured, also among many 

 other insects, two Elaters, one with yellowish-brown 

 elytra, and the other with the wing-cases covered with 

 mouse-coloured hair ; a Languria, with a green head, an 

 orange thorax, and burnished green elytra, marked with 

 punctulated, longitudinal striae ; a Lucanus, of a tawny 

 yellow colour, with a reddish-brown head, and three 

 black marks on the thorax, and the elytra margined with 

 black; an Anthribidous of a greenish-ash colour, with, 

 dull, opaque, dark, black markings ; an Elater of the 

 genus Calais, Laporte, Alans, Eschsch; most probably 

 a new species, with the head and body covered with a 

 hoary pubescence, and on the thorax, a large, shining, 

 longitudinal, oval, black spot, and four smaller round 

 spots arranged about it, and the elytra marbled and 

 mottled with black ; a Cicindela, very near C. Chinensis, 

 of a dull sap green, and yellow marks on the elytra ; a 

 remarkable species of Apocyrtus, of an ash colour, covered 



