Insects, 541 



;>ome are buried in the smooth bark, the outside of the cot being- quite level therewith, 

 ind nothing to indicate their presence ; others are sunk in fissures and crevices, their 

 ■overings being so nearly of the colour of the bark that they are scarcely discernible ; 

 ind others again are perched on the tops of rugged excrescences of the bark. In any 

 Situation they are most difficult to discover, and require truly entomological eyes; but 

 jelieviug that more specimens are likely to be obtained this way than any other, and 

 :hat the comparison of a number of them collected in different localities, and of the 

 notes that should be made, of food or peculiarity of habit, will be the best means of 

 |fearing up the obscurity that now rests on this interesting genus, I wish to call at- 

 :ention thereto while yet the season admits of search. — J. W Douglas ; 6, Grenville 

 Terrace, Coburg Road, Kent Road, March 18, 1844. 



Notes on the British Humble-Bees, (Bombus of authors). 

 By Frederick Smith, Esq., Curator to the Entomological Society. 



In a former paper of mine (Zool. 408), I expressed my intention of 

 endeavouring to point out the number of species of the genera Psi- 

 thyrus of St. Fargeau, and Bombus of Latreille, hitherto discovered 

 in Great Britain, as far as my own experience in collecting, and an 

 examination of the best London collections, would enable me to do 

 so. And perhaps I cannot do better, in the first place, than quote a 

 few words from the preface of their great monographer, the Rev. W. 

 Kirby ; who observes — " he does not presume to affirm that he has 

 I fallen into no mistakes, for in two of his subdivisions of genuine Apes 

 [alluding to the genera Nomada and Bombus] he fears he has not 

 jbeen so successful, in uniting the sexes, as in the other families; and 

 | in general, where the males and females differ very materially, as they 

 | occasionally do both in colour and form, he has probably, in several 

 I instances, been led to regard them as distinct species." Since these 

 I remarks were written, the observations of entomologists have proved 

 | their truth; and indeed it could scarcely be otherwise, when we con- 

 | sider the state of the group previous to the publication of Mr. Kirby's 

 I admirable work. Greatly indeed are we indebted to that illustrious 

 author, for the state of comparative perfection to which he reduced 

 I the genus, and placed the results of his labours before us. He has, 

 I indeed, left little for succeeding observers to do, excepting, as far as 

 i their observations may enable them, to give to some individuals their 

 j legitimate partners, to describe the species not then discovered, and 

 to correct such errors as were committed solely for the want of such 

 j information as time and subsequent discoveries now enable us to rec- 

 tify. Numberless indeed are the charges against writers of the pre- 

 sent day, of a love of unnecessarily multiplying species ; but let it be 



