It has been a fatality incidental to this entomological branch of the study of natural history that some of its most energetic cultivators have been taken early away. There was formerly Illiger, then our own Leach, and then Erichsen. Leach, but for his afflicting malady, would have done much for the science; still, let us hope that the _Hymenoptera_, and especially the bees, are gaining ground in the estimation of entomologists generally, and that not many years will pass before collectors will possess them in abundance. For the present, I can but give a slight summary of the knowledge we possess on this subject.
Thus science has sustained great loss by reason of the unfortunate neglect which the family of bees, and, indeed, the Order of _Hymenoptera_ generally, has met with from collectors in distant localities whose tastes have led so directly to the collection of other more favoured Orders, and the opportunities for repairing the consequences of such neglect being in some cases extremely rare. The present slight attempt to trace the geography and cosmopolitan range of our native genera of bees will necessarily be affected to some considerable extent by this neglect.
Although the materials in our possession will yield some fruit, yet their collection will be but the gleaner’s handful, instead of a loaded wain from a rich and abundant harvest. As what I have gathered may still have an interest for some of my readers, I will lay it before them, and in doing so I shall take the genera in their methodical series.
The genus COLLETES comes first, a position the more remarkable from the peculiarities of its economy and form, which bring it closely to the true bees, as do also its aptitude, by reason of its structure, for collecting pollen, and its energy in gathering it. The divergence in the form of the tongue brings it, however, to the extreme commencement of the series, it being the closest structural link we find for connecting the bees with the preceding family of wasps. This genus, in our own species, ranges through northern Europe to the high latitude of Finland, passing through Sweden; and it occurs also in Russia and in the Polish Ukraine. In other species than ours, and differing among themselves, it occurs at both extremities of Africa, in Egypt, and Algeria, and at the Cape of Good Hope; but whether throughout the wide interval collections do not inform us. It has been sent from Turkey, but whence?—for this is as vague a designation as Russia, both being empires which spread over vast areas,—and, if found in their Asiatic divisions, are the only instances we know of its Asiatic occurrence. It is so easy for collectors to add to their specimens a defined and precise locality, that its omission in any instance is to be regretted, as in many ways, and in all kinds of collections, it might be very serviceable to science. To our present purpose it has but a collateral interest as an object of curiosity, yet curiosity has led to many discoveries which have proved valuable to mankind. All the divisions of natural science have a mutual and convertible bearing, and closely interlink in their relations. Thus, insects denote the botany, which further indicates the climate or elevation and soil; and the superficial soil will point geological conclusions to subsoil and substructure. One natural science well mastered gives a key to the great storehouse of nature’s riches, and yields a harvest of many different crops. This episode may be excused for the hint it is intended to give of the paramount importance of the correct registration of special localities.