Page:Jardine Naturalist's library Bees.djvu/245

Rh their modes of life, having been subsequently detected, the humble-bees of this country are now very properly divided into two generic groups, Bombus and Apathus. They may be distinguished from the hive-bee, and other races bearing affinity to them, by having the simple eyes arranged in a curve, instead of forming a triangle; by having an impression in the shape of a cross on the forehead; the labrum transverse, and two distinct spines at the apex of the posterior tibiæ. More obvious characters are afforded by their large, comparatively rounded, hirsute bodies, generally adorned with bands of light-yellow or red. Upwards of forty different species are described as inhabitants of Britain; but as the three distinct races of females, males, and workers, belonging to the same species, often bear little resemblance to one another, and as the hair or down covering their bodies, often of the gayest colours, changes with age, like the plumage of birds, it is by no means unlikely that individuals of the same family, and differing only in sex or age, have, in some instances, been described as of a different species. Speaking of the hirsuties, or hairy covering of this family, and of its liability to change of colour, Kirby remarks, "An insect recently hatched appears in this respect a different species from the same when it has been long exposed to wind and weather. Thus, for instance, Apis Muscorum, which, when fresh from the pupa, is distinguished by a thorax covered with hair of a fine orange colour, and by an abdomen whose coat is a