4 PLATE CCCCXXXIV. 



Apis puipes. Chrijlii Hijmenopt. p. 1S1. to&- 8.,/fc. 9- wwtf . 

 Apis hispanica. Pans. Fn. Inf. Germ. hut. n. 55. tab. 6. 



This curious kind of bee appears to be deicribed by feveral writers 

 under the various names of 'phcmipes, pilipes, and pennipes, in allu- 

 ffion to the remarkable tufts of long hairs upon the middle pair of legs, 

 which contribute in fuch a ftriking manner both to the beauty and lin- 

 gular appearance of the fpecies. Panzer defcribes it under the more 

 local, and therefore more objectionable epithet of hifpanica. 



Mr. Kirby confiders this as no other than the male fex of the Lin- 

 Bsean fpecies retufa, and notwithftanding the great diffimilarity which 

 prevails between the two infects fuppofed to be male and female, 

 there is reafon to apprehend, according to the obfervations of Mr. 

 Kirby, that they may be really of the fame fpecies : the evidence in 

 favour of fuch an opinion affords a ftrong prefumption of the faft, al- 

 though it ftili remains to adduce in fupport of it, the teftimony of thofe 

 circumilaKces which we are taught to admit as the moft convincing, 

 and unerring proof. — It has been remarked, that when this infeci 

 makes its fir ft appearance in the fpring, the down of the upper fide of 

 the body, the vent excepted, is of a reddifh yellow colour, and that la- 

 ter in the year the hair becomes more cinereous. 



Tills infeci is very local ; it is fometimes found in nefts or cells con- 

 iftru&ed in old walls in pretty confiderable numbers, but except in 

 (Tttch filiations is very fcarce. The fmaileft figure denotes the natural 



&ze. 



PLATE 



