l62 NATURAL ARRANGEMENT OF INSECTS. 



large concourse of insects ; for, by omitting to do it, it 

 has unfortunately happened that names have been ap- 

 plied to them by Illiger, Latreille, and other continental 

 authors, whereby our countryman has partly been de- 

 prived of the well-earned universal record of his labours. 

 We must not, however, complain of the candour of 

 these authors, for they have done ample justice to the 

 originality and merits of Mr. Kirby's treatise, which 

 we cannot too strongly recommend to the diligent and 

 careful study of young entomologists. They will find 

 that it will teach them to digest thoroughly their plans ; 

 and it will enlarge their views beyond the feverish 

 expectancy of a precocious and questionable celebrity, 

 so easily and unworthily attainable, by the establish- 

 ment of insulated remarkable genera ; for it is only by 

 taking up groups, and thoroughly discussing them, that 

 the progress of the science can be at all promoted. 



(146.) We find that it is by CoUetesin theANDRENiDjE 

 that the bees are most intimately connected with the 

 Spheces and wasps ; its bilobated tongue exhibits the 

 point of contact with some of the extreme genera of 

 fossorial aculeates. This genus is also remarkable from 

 its mode of nidification, and the silken cells it forms ; 

 and by its possessing two parasites, — one the beautifully 

 variegated Epeolus, a cuckoo bee, and the other the 

 dipterous genus Miltogramma. The peculiarities of 

 the other genera of the Andrenidce are, the wood bur- 

 rowing parasitic Hylaus, which, when caught, emits a 

 delightful and powerful fragrance of lemons ; and 

 Sphecodes: the insects upon which these are parasitical, 

 the most careful research has not yet discovered. We 

 next have the extensive genus HaUctus, which is pecu- 

 liar for the caudal vertical incision in the females, and 

 the cylindrical body and length of antennas in the 

 males. We here find another exemplification of the 

 divergence of extensive genera from their types ; for 

 we observe forms in this genus which seem to point in 

 a variety of directions. Although the genus occurs 

 thi-oughout the world, it is found most extensively in 



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