366 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



females of which may attain a length of nearly an inch. It is thickly covered with black pubescence, 

 but with the front of the thorax, a band across the middle of the abdomen, and its extremity yellow. 

 In another rather smaller species (Bombus lucoruiii) the colours are the same in the female and 

 worker, except that the extremity of the abdomen is white ; but the male is clothed with yellowish 

 pubescence, except the apical portion of the abdomen, which is white, and some more or less distinct 

 black bands on the thorax and abdomen. Both these species are subterranean Bees. Of the moss- 

 builders, the best known perhaps is the Bombus muscorum, the largest specimens of which are about 

 two-thirds of an inch long. This is clothed with dull yellow pubescence, which becomes tawny on 

 the thorax, and shows more or less distinct traces of black bands on the abdomen. Bombus lapi- 

 darius, so called from a preference it shows for making its nest under stones, is the well-known large 

 black Humble Bee, with the end of the abdomen orange red. The male has the face, the front of 

 the thorax, and the scutellum yellow. 



The numbers of individuals in the nests of the Humble Bees are very small when compared with 

 the multitudes which swarm in a bee-hive. According to the late Mr. Frederick Smith, those of 

 Bombus terrestris contain the largest number known to him, and he records that a nest of this species 



taken in August con- 

 tained only thirty-five 

 females, twenty males, 

 and one hundred and 

 sixty workers ; whilst in 

 a nest of B. fragrans at 

 the same season only 

 five females and about 

 twenty workers were 

 found. 



These true Humble 

 Bees, which are among 

 the most industrious of 

 insects, passing their 

 lives in incessant ac- 

 tivity, and bringing in 

 large supplies of pollen 

 and honey to their nests, 

 are provided, like the 

 Honey Bee, with greatly- 

 dilated hind tibite and 

 tarsi, thickly fringed 

 with long bristle-like 

 hairs, which render them 

 efficient instruments for 

 the conveyance of pollen. 

 There are, however, cer- 

 tain nearly-allied Bees 

 resembling them in 

 general characters, and 

 even in the dilatation 

 of the hind tibia and 



first tarsal joints, but in which these dilated parts are destitute of the hairs and bristles which 

 render them so useful as pollen-baskets, so that at the first glance one would conclude that they 

 cannot follow the same mode of life as the true Bombi. In point of fact, these Bees, which have 

 been formed into a distinct genus under the name of Ajxtthus, are parasitic upon the true Humble 

 Bees, visiting their nests, depositing their eggs there, and leaving the care of rearing the larvre to 

 their industrious relatives. Four British species are recorded, the most abundant of which are 



ArATHVS VESTALIS. 



