GENERAL HISTORY OF BEES. 
49 
Melecta resembles Anthophora; Ccelioxys has the form 
of Megachile , both in the hollowed base of the abdomen 
and the peculiar manner the latter has of raising its 
extremity,—something like a Staphylinus. Many other 
peculiarities of resemblancce might be enumerated. 
Having thus completed the description of the external 
anatomy of the bee desirable to be known for facilita¬ 
ting the comprehension of what I may have subse¬ 
quently to say. I shall now refer to a few peculiarities 
of their manners, which could not be conveniently in¬ 
troduced elsewhere. 
In their modes of flight bees vary considerably; some 
dart along in a direct line, with almost the velocity of 
lightning, visit a flower for an instant, and then dart off 
again with the same fleetness and vivacity, like Saropoda 
and Anthophora; others leisurely visit every blossom, 
even upon a crowded plant, with patient assiduity, like 
Bomhus ;■ and some, either from fatigue, or heat, or in¬ 
toxication, repose, like luxurious Sybarites, within the 
corolla of the flower. The males seem to flutter about 
in idle vagrancy, and may be often observed enjoying 
themselves upon some fragrant hedge-row. But the 
domestic bee and the humble-bee are the most sedulous 
in their avocation, and both cheering their labour with 
their seemingly self-satisfied and monotonous hum. 
Bees, too, have a voice; but this voice does not pro¬ 
ceed from their mouth, nor is it the result of air passed 
from the lungs through the larynx, and modulated by 
the tongue, teeth, and lips; for bees breathe through 
spiracles placed laterally along the several segments of 
the body, and their interior is aerified by tracheae, which 
ramify variously through it; but their voice is produced 
by the vibration of the wings beating the air during 
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