372 Mr. F. Smith on the Species and 



XXXVII. — On the Species and Varieties of the Honey- Bees he- 

 ' longing to the Gentis Apis. By Frederick Smith. 



[Plate XIX.] 



In 1862 Dr. Gerstacker published his remarks " On the Geo- 

 graphical Distribution and Varieties of the Honey-Bee, with 

 Observations upon the Exotic Honey-Bees of the Old World''*. 

 Having in my own possession a large amount of material, and 

 also access to that preserved in other collections, I have devoted 

 considerable time to an attentive study of the species. The 

 result has been somewhat different from that arrived at by Dr. 

 Gerstacker. I have therefore thought it might be desirable that 

 I should publish the results of my own study of the genus. 



In my ' Catalogue of the Apidse' I enumerated fifteen species 

 of the genus Apis : one was overlooked at that time, and four I 

 have described since its publication, thus increasing the number 

 to twenty species. In the paper referred to, the fifteen catalogued 

 species, with the addition of two of those which I have subse- 

 quently described, are reduced to four by Dr. Gerstacker : why 

 he passed over the other two, which I described previous to 

 those he has noticed, it is difficult to imagine; but it was pro- 

 bably entirely an oversight. I fully concur in the necessity for 

 the reduction of the number of species effected by this learned 

 entomologist; but I am not prepared to go with him to the 

 same extent : I must therefore endeavour to show good reasons 

 for differing from such an authority. 



Our author remarks that "various races of Honey-Bees have 

 been described as distinct species by various authors," but that 

 '' they really present no distinctive specific characters.'' This 

 observation naturally leads to the inquiry. What are the distinc- 

 tive specific characters in the genus Apis ? Before I* attempt to 

 answer that question I would offer a few remarks upon two or 

 three distinct and extensive genera of Bees, and will endeavour 

 to point out where, under certain conditions, distinctive charac- 

 ters are sometimes to be found. If I were to seek in the females 

 of many species of Bees for the distinctive characters of the 

 species, either in difference of form or in the sculpture of parts, 

 I should in all probability fail to discover any that I could, by 

 description, enable the entomologist easily to recognize ; but if 

 I had each species before me in its entirety, that is, both sexes 

 of each species, my task would in all probability become a com- 

 paratively easy one. My knowledge of the male and female of 

 each species would place me in a position to enter upon the in- 

 vestigation with the necessary materials before me. I should, 

 in the first place, probably find broad and distinctive differences 

 * Annals, ser. 3. vol. xi. p. 2/0. 



