1C8 Bees and their Counterfeits. 



after a close examination, as colour, size, and general form are 

 almost identical. There is, however, one marked difference, 

 which is easily perceived when the trained eye has been taught 

 where to look for it : the hind legs of the honey or pollen 

 collector are invariably furnished with an enlarged tibia, the 

 flattened and somewhat hollowed breadth of which serves as a 

 reservoir, in which the pollen collected from flowers is carried 

 to the nest. This peculiarity of formation will be observed in 

 the engraving, Fig. 1, whilst in Fig. 2 the same part of the hind 

 leg will be found simply rounded, and entirely without that 

 broadened, flattened, and hollow character which distinguishes 

 the hind leg of the honey collector. This parasite, having 

 neither the instinct to collect food for its expected progeny, 

 nor, in fact, the means of carrying it home even if the will 

 existed, has been deemed by naturalists to be entirely devoid of 

 those parental and home instincts which distinguish the recol- 

 tant or harvesting kinds. It is on that account that it has, like 

 the genus to which it belongs, received the name of Apathus ; 

 apathy in regard to the providing protection or food for their 

 young being the leading characteristic of parasites. It will be 

 observed that the light band on the thorax, near the head, is 

 less distinct in the Apathus, and also that the abdomen is not 

 quite so profusely furred. Latreille termed these parasitic bees 

 Cuculina?, or cuckoo-bees, the term Apathus having been sub- 

 stituted by an English naturalist. 



The resemblance of the third insect figure in the group 

 above is still more curious. Although, at a glance, it so much 

 resembles both the bees represented in the engraving as to 

 cheat the careless observer, it will on closer examination prove 

 itself not only far from being identical, but will be found so 

 radically different as at once to show that it belongs to another 

 and distinct order of insects, the Diptera, or two-winged order. 

 It is, in fact, merely the general size and the colouring which 

 deceive the eye untrained to appreciate anatomical form with 

 accuracy. On examination, almost every part of the structure 

 will be found to be exceedingly distinct from that of the bee : 

 the eyes are differently placed and different in form, while their 

 size and colour are nearly identical ; the antenna?, instead of 

 being horny and robust, like those of the bee, are delicately 

 slender and feathered, like some kinds of moths — but these 

 are not conspicuous appendages, and escape the attention of 

 the ordinary spectator. The thorax, or fore part of the body, 

 is, however, furred with orange hairs next the head, which 

 become yellow near the abdomen, leaving the centre of the 

 thorax black ; the segments of the abdomen nearest the thorax 

 are clothed with yellow fur; the central segments are black, 

 and the last segments, or tail, are white — this is precisely the 



