172 



Bees and their Counterfeits. 



another instance of a likeness so very extraordinary between a 

 large exotic bee and its parasitic diptera, that I have repre- 

 sented them in the engraving below, in order to allow of care- 

 ful comparison (Figs. 6 and 7). 



The handsome bee figured above (Fig. 4, and No. 2 in the 

 coloured plate), is Xylocopa nigrita (the female) ; it is a na- 

 tive of Sierra Leone, and is remarkable for the full deep 

 velvety black of the greater part of the body, while the 

 sides of the abdomen are conspicuously fringed, and partly 



Fig. 6. 



Fig. 7. 



covered, with milk-white furry hairs ; the effect of which call 

 to mind the appearance of an aged negro, of the same part 

 of the African coast, whose woolly hair has become white with 

 age. The legs, also, are thickly fringed on one side with a simi- 

 lar white fur, and the " face" is white, with large, brown eyes. 

 The wings are nearly opaque, and of deep, dull purple, with a 

 metallic gloss, bronzy-red towards the extremities. The Dip- 

 tera, or two -winged counterpart of this insect (Fig. 5), has all 

 the characteristic contrasts of black and white, similarly dis- 



