54 POPULAR ENTOMOLOGY. 



allowed to remain useless, but are said to be employed in 

 holding pollen. 



The tongue of the Humble Bee only differs from that of 

 the Hive Bee in being furnished near the tip with a greater 

 number of long hairs, forming a brush, and enabling the 

 insect to collect a much larger quantity of honey at a time. 

 Towards August, from three to eight females are produced, 

 which are much larger than the others, and are destined to 

 survive the winter, all the rest of the community dying at 

 the approach of cold weather. The former alone possess 

 the instinct to conceal themselves in crevices of trees and 

 walls, and on the arrival of spring they construct a nest, 

 and perform all those labours, for which they were preserved 

 from the destruction of their species. The other genus, 

 Apis, is now restricted to the domestic Bee, Apis mellifica, 

 which will be described in its proper place. 



The Aphida, or Plant Lice, a family only too familiar to 

 those who delight in their garden, begin to appear during 

 this month, and, when in great numbers, considerably di- 

 minish the beauty of many plants. The insects of this 

 family live entirely on vegetable matter, and the loftiest 

 tree is no more exempt from their ravages than the humblest 

 weed; they principally attack the foliage, and are always 



