The humiliation which attends the sentiment of the utter inability and incompetency of the mind to grasp the intricacy and vastness of nature, is consoled by the redundant proofs the contemplation yields of a supreme and benevolent Providence presiding over all things, and thence we derive the comfortable and supporting assurance, in the fickle waywardness and vicissitudes of a harassed and anxious life, that a benevolent eye is ever watchfully awake; for the naturalist everywhere beholds that omnipotently wise and loving Providence in active operation throughout nature.
No study like natural history, pursued in a humble and docile spirit, so harmoniously elicits the religion of the soul, or than which so fitly prepares it to enter, by the pathway of the works of God, the august temple of His revealed Word.
But to return: what we call science is the mere accidence of nature, which in fact aggravates our infirmity by permitting our intelligence to attempt to grasp, through the various details, their intricate combinations. But as truth sooner arises out of error if methodically pursued, and its results recorded, than out of confusion and guesswork, theories based upon observation, however inaccurate at first, ultimately lead up to the certain acquisition of the truth itself.
AN EASY DISTRIBUTION OF THE BEES, THE NUMBERS REFERRING TO THE SCIENTIFIC SERIES.
TONGUE SHORTER THAN THE MAXILLÆ, PORRECT.
_Posterior tibiæ clothed with hair to convey pollen._
Two submarginal cells. Posterior legs very robust, polliniferous hair on tibiæ and plantæ dense but short - =MACROPIS (7).= Posterior legs slender; polliniferous hair on femora, tibiæ, and plantæ dense and very long - =DASYPODA (8).=
Three submarginal cells to the wings. Abdomen truncated at base - =COLLETES (1).= Abdomen ovate. Abdomen entire at apex; maxillary palpi as long or longer than the maxillæ - =ANDRENA (4).=
Abdomen entire at apex; maxillary palpi half the length of the maxillæ - =CILISSA (5).= Abdomen with a vertical incision at the apex - =HALICTUS (7).=
_Posterior tibiæ without hair to convey pollen._
Two submarginal cells to the wings. - =PROSOPIS (2).= Three submarginal cells to the wings. - =SPHECODES (3).=
TONGUE AS LONG OR LONGER THAN THE MAXILLÆ, INFLECTED BENEATH, AND COVERED BY THE MAXILLÆ IN REPOSE.