450 IN SECT A. 



most of the latter. Hornets, wasps, humble-bees, &c, which may be 

 called families of one season, do not destroy their males ; for probably 

 every female requires to be impregnated ; and, as the males find them- 

 selves in provisions, they are not so obnoxious to the females as the 

 males of the common bee are. In investigating the economy in any 

 one class, we may observe here that the male is hardly worth taking- 

 notice of, excepting as regards copulation ; unless he assists the female 

 in providing for the young. Some males, as those of the common bee, 

 do not labour even to support themselves. 



Bees, or rather all of this tribe, are probably more on the wing than 

 other insects ; and this is because they are obliged to provide [materials 

 of the nest] for hatching, and food for the young after being hatched. 



Although the common bee and the humble-bee are more alike [than 

 either is to the wasp-genus], yet they differ in the mode of feeding the 

 young, and in the mode of colonizing ; while the wasp and hornet are 

 more like the common bee in their mode of feeding their young, but are 

 less so in other parts of their economy. 



The species of this tribe on which I have had opportunities of making 

 [a series of] observations, are the common bee 1 , the humhle-bee 2 , the 

 hornet 3 , and the ivasp*; each of which species I shall treat of separately. 



There are species in this country of a smaller size than any of the 

 former, which I detected with farina on their hind-legs ; and therefore 

 they are most probably similar to the two first [common and humble- 

 bees] ; but I have never found any of their hives, and from what I can 

 observe they are few in number. The females have a sting, one of 

 which stung me through the cuticle on the end of my thumb. They 

 collect their farina on the inside of their hind-legs. 



Of Bees. 



Of uncommon or Solitary Bees. — Bees may be divided into family 

 bees and solitary 5 . The first, or family, are, as far as I know, of two 

 kinds ; the permanent family-bee, and the temporary. The permanent 

 family-bee is the common or useful bee (mellijica), the temporary is our 

 humble-bee. 



The solitary bees have a considerable similarity among themselves in 

 most of their operations, and these are simple. Their economy is found 

 out rather by accident than by experiment, or by a series of observations : 

 it is known to me only by detached observations, which afterwards I 

 have put together. I should suspect that these bees were simply male 



1 [Philosophical Transactions, 1792; Animal Economy, 8vo. 1837, p. 422.] 



- [Vol. i. p. 60.] 3 [lb. p. 73.] 



4 [lb. p. 82.] s [As, e. g., Anthophora retusa.] 



