Masked. Hylaeus communis, Masked Bee, on French Laserwort, Laserpitium gallicum, Hortus Botanicus, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Hylaeus Bees come with a large number of different masks for each of which a species is named. They're tiny and versatile and quite pretty, too, I think. They always remind me of the masked balls of the 'ancien régime'. And that takes me immediately to Catullus, the Roman poet, who in one of his poems to sweet Lesbia writes about the thousand kisses he would bestow on her, calling to mind the multitudinous Libyan sands and the flowers of Cyrene: probably a Laserpitium on one of which Hylaeus is foraging here. Whether Catullus thought of its qualities as an aphrodisiac or rather a contraceptive, I won't hazard to guess.
Masked. Hylaeus communis, Masked Bee, on French Laserwort, Laserpitium gallicum, Hortus Botanicus, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Hylaeus Bees come with a large number of different masks for each of which a species is named. They're tiny and versatile and quite pretty, too, I think. They always remind me of the masked balls of the 'ancien régime'. And that takes me immediately to Catullus, the Roman poet, who in one of his poems to sweet Lesbia writes about the thousand kisses he would bestow on her, calling to mind the multitudinous Libyan sands and the flowers of Cyrene: probably a Laserpitium on one of which Hylaeus is foraging here. Whether Catullus thought of its qualities as an aphrodisiac or rather a contraceptive, I won't hazard to guess.