Die europäischen Bienen (Apid) Das Leben und Wirken unserer Blumenwespen

Abstract

THE name of Dr. H. Friese is well known to students of the Hymenoptera, and his published writings on bees render him competent for a work of this description. His aim is to givea general account of the life and habits of European bees within a compass of about 450 pages, of which 112 pp. are comprised in this first instalment. In some ways the work is scarcely abreast of the times, and it is a matter of surprise to find in the introduction the old Linnean classification of insects still adhered to, with the dragonflies included among the Orthoptera. Bees are regarded as constituting a single family, and the other major groups of Hymenoptera are relegated to a similar status. Furthermore, no outline of the classification of the Apidse is presented to the reader, which is a distinct drawback. The section devoted to the general characters of bees might well have been longer-it is too brief and elementary to be of much value to the serious student. We note only the barest reference to the salivary glands, respiration system and other organs, although several pages are devoted to an account of the body-hairs, nearly fifty different kinds being illustrated. The author's main aim, however, is bionomics, and it is evident that the remainder of the book, when completed, will provide a trustworthy, well-illustrated dissertation on the habits and life-economy of the insects with which it deals. The seven coloured plates which accompany the present part are composed of original figures. Those which portray the various types of nest structure are among the most attractive illustrations of their kind which we have seen.

Die europäischen Bienen (Apid). Das Leben und Wirken unserer Blumenwespen.

Bearbeitet von Prof. Dr. H. Friese. 1 Lieferung. Pp. 112 + 7 Tafeln. (Berlin und Leipzig: W. de Gruyter und Co., 1922.) 10s.