The flight of this insect is exceedingly swift; but when it has dis covered a flower on which it intends to settle (generally that of the blind nettle), it stops suddenly, poises itself in the air for a few seconds, and then darts upon the flower, dislodging any bee which may have settled upon it before.
Sometimes it appears more anxious to dislodge other bees, and to prevent their gathering honey, than to collect for itself, for it flies about from flower to flower, and pounces upon all it meets with.
Anthophora retusa is another bee, which in its flight very much resembles the oue just described. This bee is considerably larger than the Hive-Bee : the male is brown, sometimes inclining to an ochre colour, and is remarkable for the three long tufts of hair which are attached to the middle leg, two of them to the tip of the tibias (that ou the posterior part being very long), and another to the tip of the tarsus. The female of this species is so much unlike the male, that it has been thought by many to be a distinct species. It is entirely black, except the outer side of the hinder tibiae, which is covered with i-ed hairs : it is without the tufts on the intermediate leg. This species constructs its cells in the sides of banks, generally choosing those which are perpendicular.
It is to this same family that the Hive-Bee belongs, to the history and economy of which we shall confine ourselves.
The Apia mellifica, Hive-Bee, or Honey-Bee, has for many ages justly claimed the attention and study of naturalists. Among the earliest of its observers may be enumerated Aristotle and Virgil ; also Aristo machus of Soli in Cilicia, and Philiscus the Thasian. Aristomachus, we are told by Pliny, attended solely to bees for fifty-eight years ; and Philiscus, it is said, spent the whole of his time in forests, investigating their habits. (Plin. xi. 9.) Both these observers wrote on the Bee. In modern times the labours of Swammerdam, Riaumur, Bounet, Schirach, Thorley, Hunter, Huber, and others, have added greatly to our knowledge of this interesting species.
The Honey-Bee always lives in society with many of its own species. In its natural state it generally constructs its nest iu hollow trees ; but throughout Europe it is now rather a rare occurrence to find it otherwise than domesticated.
Each society or swarm is composed of three descriptions of Bees— the 3Iale, or Drone; the Neuter, or Worker; and the Female, or Queen.
The !Prone, or Male Bee, in general form, is almost cylindrical, the separation between the thorax and abdomen being much less distinct than in the females or neuters. The head is large, rather narrower than the thorax ; the oyes are very large, and meet at the vertex of the Lead, but divide as they approach the forehead ; close to the point of separation there are three stemmata. The Internee are 13-jointed. The thorax is thickly covered above and beneath with short pale brown hairs resembling velvet. The length of the abdomen is scarcely greater than is its breadth, and it is terminated obtusely : it has only four segments visible from the upper side, the anal seg ments being hidden beneath the others. The basal and apical segments are each thickly covered with pale hairs. The colour of the abdomen is black above, having the edge of each segment of a light brown colour ; the underside of the body is also pale. The legs are black ; the inner side of the hinder legs is covered with pale down. All the claws are divided, the inner part being nearly equal in length to the outer part. The wings are large, and rather longer than the body ; the anterior wings are rather acute at the apex.
The Drone may be readily distinguished from the queen and workers by its greater breadth, large eyes (which meet at the top of the head), and the abdomen having only four segments visible from the upper side. The wings are much longer in proportion than those of the worker or the queen, for in this sex they reach beyond the extremity of the abdomen.
The number of drones in a hive is remarkably irregular, varying from GOO or 700 to 2000; but the proportion is not regulated by the number of bees contained in the hive, for a small swarm will some times possess as many drones as a large one.
The time required to complete the metamorphosis of the drone is as follows. In three days after the deposition of the egg the larva makes its appearance : about the middle of the seventh day from this time, the larva, having then arrived at its full growth, spins its cocoon, a silken substance with which it lines the interior of its cell : this is accomplished in about a day and a half. It then turns to the pupa, and ultimately to the perfect insect, having been about 24 days from the laying of the egg to the coming forth in the winged state.