The Life of the Bee 
of years, The tribe in question is already 
known to us; it is that of the “ Apiens,” 
whose essential characteristics are so dis- 
tinct and well-marked that one is inclined 
to credit all its members with one common 
ancestor.? 
The disciples of Darwin, Hermann 
Miller among others, consider a little 
wild bee, the Prosopis, which is to be 
found all over the universe, as the actual 
representative of the primitive bee whence 
all have issued that are known to us 
to-day. 
The unfortunate Prosopis stands more 
1 Tt is important that the terms we shall succes- 
sively employ, adopting the classification of M. Emile 
Blanchard, —«< APIENS, APID/ and APITZA, — 
should not be confounded. The tribe of the Apiens 
comprises all families of bees. The Apidz constitute 
the first of these families, and are subdivided into three 
groups: the Meliponz, the Apite, and the Bombi 
(humble-bees). And, finally, the Apite include all 
the different varieties of our domestic bees. 
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