i6 



STREPSIPTERA. 



stone walls, and were so invincibly brave in defending their homesteads that 

 they never gave up the quarrel till they died ; and above all, the yellow-zoned 

 humble bees, that lodged deep in the ground, along the dry sides of the grassy 

 bank, and were usually wealthier in honey than their congeners, and existed 

 in large communities. But the herd-boy of the parish, and the foxes of its 

 woods and brakes, shared in my interest in the wild honey-bees, and, in the 

 pursuit of other things than knowledge, were ruthless robbers of their nests." 



J. 114. -HUMBLE BEES; MALE, FEMALE, AND WORKER. 



BEE PARASITES ORDER STREPSIPTERA.* 



The Rev. Mr. Kirby had more than once observed upon several 

 species of bees something that he took to be a kind of mite, with 

 which insects are very commonly infested, and determined not to 

 lose the opportunity of taking one off for examination. On at- 

 tempting, however, to disengage it with a pin, much to his aston- 

 ishment, he drew forth from the body of the bee what he imagined 



to be a white fleshy larva, a quar- 

 ter of an inch long, the head of 

 which he had mistaken for a mite. 

 It had neither mouth nor pro- 

 boscis, nor any apparent means 

 of obtaining food. " After I had 

 examined one specimen," says 

 Mr. Kirby, " I attempted to ex- 

 tract a second, and the reader 

 may imagine how greatly my as- 

 tonishment was increased when, 

 after I had drawn it out but a 

 little way, I saw its skin burst, 

 and a head as black as ink, with large staring eyes, and antennae, 

 consisting of two branches, break forth and move itself briskly 



FIG. 115. STYLOPS. 



u, strepsis, twisting; irrtpov, pteron, a wing. 



