210 
BRITISH BEES. 
able Andrena as may happen to visit the flowers they are 
upon; and, it is said, that they are thus conveyed by the 
bee to its domicile, and there feed to maturity upon the 
larva of the bee. I have no faith in the correctness of this 
statement, for it is not credible that so small a creature 
as the larva of an Andrena could fully feed the larva of 
so large a beetle. Observation has not satisfactorily con¬ 
firmed it, and the connection may be, as in the former 
case, merely accidental. 
Although, perhaps, not a strictly scientific course, it is 
certainly a matter of convenience in very long genera 
to break them up into divisions, framed upon external 
characters, readily perceptible, and, by which means, the 
species sought for may be more readily found. This I 
have done in the preceding list of the species, and which 
are based upon very prominent features. A slight diva¬ 
rication from the typical neuration of the wing is ob¬ 
served in some species, but it is not of a sufficiently 
marked character to afford a divisional separation, and 
even much less a subgeneric one. I have therefore passed 
it unnoticed. The commencing entomologist will often 
find considerable difficulty at first in determining the 
species of this genus, for so much depends upon con¬ 
dition; and where the colour of the pubescence is the 
chief characteristic, a very little exposure to the atmo¬ 
sphere much alters their physiognomy, but time, patience, 
and perseverance will ripen the novice into an adept. 
The connection of the males with the females, from their 
ordinarily great dissimilarity, was only to be accom¬ 
plished by positive observation, but now that this, in the 
majority of cases, is effected, good descriptions facilitate 
their discrimination. 
The most conspicuous species are the Hattorfiana and 
