THE 
ORANGE-TAILED BEE. 
Generic Character. 
Mouth furnished with jaws and inflected pro¬ 
boscis with two bivalve sheaths. 
Wings flat. 
Sting concealed and exertile in the females and 
neuters. 
Specific Character, &r. 
Hairy black BEE, with orange-coloured tail. 
The red-tailed Humble-BEE. 
Great ORANGE-TAILED Garden-BEE. 
The Apis lapidaria is one of the largest-of the Bri¬ 
tish bees, as well as the most remarkable in point of 
color, being at all times readily distinguishable from 
the rest of its congeners. It varies however very 
considerably in magnitude, and some specimens, 
(perhaps males) are of fo comparatively small a size 
as to have been often considered and described as a 
distinct species. The nest constructed by this insect 
is of a very elegant appearance, being of an oval 
form, and composed of sprigs of tiie larger mossps, 
very 
