Page:Jardine Naturalist's library Bees.djvu/261

Rh nervures black. Length about an inch and a quarter: expansion of the wings two inches and a quarter. It is a native of Valparaiso.

APATHUS VESTALIS. XVIII. Fig. 2.

peculiarities on which this genus is founded, were pointed out, to a certain extent, by Kirby, but he did not avail himself of them to separate the group from the true humble-bees. In fact, there is such a striking general resemblance between the Apathi and Bombi, that such a separation appears at first sight to be doing violence to natural affinity. But the principal mark of distinction, the want of a brush (corbicula) for collecting masses of pollen, is a most important one, and might have been expected to influence materially the whole mode of life. There seems now to be no doubt, that the Apathi never attempt to build a nest of any kind, or to make any provision for their young, but deposit their eggs in the nests of other bees, into which they find access apparently without being suspected of any improper design. The larvæ produced by these surreptitious eggs being stronger than the rightful owners, consume the food provided for them. They undergo their various changes in the same appropriated home. This practice is known to prevail among many other kinds of bees, not, however, very closely resembling