1C) CURIOSITIES OF ENTOMOLOGY. 



and produces the famous honey of Estabentiem, the finest in 

 the world, which is said to be taken from the bees every 

 two months. These bees are, however, small inconspicuous 

 creatures, evidently belonging to the same group as our own 

 honey hive-bee, though distinguished from it by being sting- 

 less. The most magnificent bees are, on the other hand, not 

 of the true honey kind. They belong principally to the class 

 of solitary bees, including a few of the humble-bee class and 

 their relatives. These last, though it is true that many of 

 them of the i social ' kinds do collect honey, yet manipulate 

 it in a very inferior manner to that of the hive-bee. Other 

 kinds only collect pollen, which, being exclusively intended as 

 food for the young larvaB, is generally rolled into little balls 

 or pills, one being placed in each of the cells in which an egg 

 is to be deposited." 



The truly magnificent insect, Xylocopa nobilis (Fig. 6) was 

 captured by Mr. Wallis, in the island of Celebes, an almost 

 unknown collecting ground, from which we may expect to 

 obtain many other new and splendid additions to our cabinets 

 of exotic insects. Its body is of the richest conceivable 

 velvet black, with a rich brown bloom upon it ; this deep 

 ground colour being banded with transverse stripes of the 

 richest gold colour, the two central stripes producing a pecu- 

 liarly bright and sparkling effect from their extreme narrow- 

 ness. The wings are semi-opaque, and their colour modulates 

 from a deep indigo-violet in the centre to a rich bronzy green 

 at the extremities, the violet becoming nearly crimson where 

 the wings join the body. 



A new species from India (No. 5, not yet named, in the 

 second coloured plate) is perhaps even more beautiful ; for 

 though the usually slender and elongated body is entirely 

 black, the wings exhibit the most gorgeous iridescent colours 

 that can be imagined. They are of a reddish tawny bronze 

 at the ends, getting redder towards the centre, where the red 

 suddenly but softly blends into a rich metallic green, followed 

 by a portion of rich deep blue, which in its turn becomes 

 violet at the base of the wings. 



Centris flavopict.a (No. 1, in the second coloured plate) is 



