240 
HUMBLE-BEES. 
pleased,” can hardly he observed without pleasure ; 
whiie their incessant hum, which often assails our 
ears in heathery uplands, where nearly all other 
indications of life have ceased, forms one of the 
most common of those rural sounds, the entire 
effect of which is usually so agreeable. “ There 
are few associations of our childhood,” it has been 
recently remarked, “ more deep and lasting than 
those connected with the pursuit and capture of 
these beautiful creatures, some of which are remark- 
able for their size, and the rich contrast which they 
exhibit of velvet black and crimson, with bars of 
brilliant yellow. This splendid attire, however, saves 
them not from being rudely handled ; and we remem- 
ber the day when an artificial link, that is, a little 
box made of clay, with a piece of glass at one end, 
and a sprinkling of sugar at the other, contained as 
many captives in proportion to its size as the black 
hole at Calcutta.” * 
Although so dissimilar in external aspect, a very 
close connection in regard to structure can he traced 
between the hive-bee and the kinds of which we 
now treat. The respective genera are accordingly 
placed in juxta-position in systematic arrangements. 
For a long period these genera, as well as several 
others, were confounded under the common name 
of Apis, and it was not till a comparatively recent 
date, that the humble-bees were separated, and the 
generic term Bombus applied to them. A different 
formation of certain parts, entailing a difference in 
* Ency. Brit., Art. Entomoiogy. 
