BRITISH BEES. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ BRITISH BEES: AN INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF THE NATURAL HISTORY AND ECONOMY OF THE BEES _Indigenous to the British Isles_. BY W. E. SHUCKARD, AUTHOR OF ‘ESSAY ON THE FOSSORIAL HYMENOPTERA,’ ‘COLEOPTERA DELINEATED,’ ‘ELEMENTS OF BRITISH ENTOMOLOGY,’ MONOGRAPHS OF THE ‘DORYLIDÆ,’ ‘AULACIDÆ,’ ETC. ETC.; AND TRANSLATOR OF BURMEISTER’S ‘MANUAL OF ENTOMOLOGY.’ [Illustration: Decoration] LONDON: LOVELL REEVE & CO., 5, HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN. 1866. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ J. E. TAYLOR AND CO., PRINTERS, LITTLE QUEEN STREET, LINCOLN’S INN FIELDS. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ TO WILLIAM WILSON SAUNDERS, ESQ., F.R.S., TREAS. & V.P.L.S., F.Z.S., TREASURER OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY, ETC. ETC. ETC., IN TESTIMONY OF THE ABILITY, ZEAL, AND LIBERALITY WITH WHICH HE CULTIVATES AND PROMOTES THE SCIENCE OF ENTOMOLOGY; AND AS AN ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF MUCH KINDNESS, EXTENDING OVER MANY YEARS, _This Volume_ IS RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED, BY HIS FAITHFUL SERVANT, W. E. SHUCKARD. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ PREFACE. ------- A FEW words are necessary explanatory of the course pursued in the following work, as regards the citation of authorities. All the facts recorded without reference to authorities, are the result either of personal observation or of diligent study, which, from the length of time that has intervened, have become so blended in my mind that I can no longer separate their sources. I may, however, state that observation has, certainly, as often anticipated the perusal of the discoveries of others, as their record has stimulated direct observation to confirm them.