206 KAMBLES OF A NATURALIST. 



dance in which these annelids occur upon the beach 

 of Santo- Vito enabled our companion to examine 

 them in detail; whilst the frequent occurrence of 

 large Tritons (a gasteropodous mollusc) afforded 

 him the means of prosecuting his observations on 

 the nerves of these animals with equal zeal and 

 success. On land he collected several fine specimens 

 of insects, belonging to the family of the Melasoma, 

 which are indigenous in the sand of this beach. He 

 convinced himself that zoologists, deceived by trifling 

 external differences, have multiplied species beyond 

 measure by mistaking for them simple varieties ; 

 while he was enabled, at the same time, to rectify a 

 more serious error in relation to the sexual differences 

 which had led to a similar result ; as, for instance, in 

 the case of the genera Erodias, Tentyria, and several 

 others, in which the male and female of the same 

 species had often been separated on the supposition 

 that they were specifically different. 



Among the insects which attracted the attention 

 of our travelling companion, we ought specially to 

 mention Ants, since the coast of Sicily abounds in 

 several of those species which appertain to warm 

 climates. The history of Bees* owes perhaps a 

 portion of its popularity to the pleasant fictions of 

 mythology with which it has been associated, but 



* It is well known that the economy of Bees has been made the 

 subject of numerous researches. M. Dujardin has recently published 

 in the Annales des Sciences JVaturelles, an exceedingly curious 

 memoir on the mixture of intelligence and instinct which we observe 

 in these insects. The most complete work, however, on the 

 subject is that by the elder Huber, which he entitles Hisloire des 

 Abeilks. 



