Ted Fischer wrote:
 
 Note that honeybee is one word.
 
************
 
   Much confusion exists on that point.  Often, the British and most
standard dictionaries use honeybee as one word.
 
   However, entomologists follow a standard procedure for common names of
insects.  If an insect is a real bee, they use the adjective describing
that bee as a separate word (e.g., honey bee, bumble bee, leafcutting bee,
etc.).
 
   By contrast, insects NOT of the group carry adjectives as part of the
word for the common name of that insect.  For example, dragonflies,
butterflies, etc. are NOT flies.  By such convention, entomologists avoid
much confusion.
 
   The dictionaries, on the other hand, follow the entomology tradition
only about half the time, causing much confusion for editors of scientific
papers and books.  All too often, in the submission and editing process, I
have had to insist that honey bee be spelled as two words for my papers and
books.
 
   More and more the entomology tradition prevails.  Most of the more than
two dozen bee books on my shelf have honey bee spelled as two words.  That
includes THE HIVE AND THE HONEY BEE, ANATOMY OF THE HONEY BEE, and ABC AND
XYZ OF BEE CULTURE.
 
                                                        Adrian
 
Adrian M. Wenner                    (805) 963-8508 (home phone)
967 Garcia Road                     (805) 893-8062  (UCSB FAX)
Santa Barbara, CA  93106
 
****************************************************************************
**********
*
*     "The [scientist] within the [thought] collective is never, or hardly
ever,     *
*      conscious of the prevailing thought style, which almost always
exerts an      *
*      absolutely compulsive force upon his thinking and with which it is
not        *
*      possible to be at variance."
*
*                                                      Ludwik Fleck (1935;
1979)     *
*
****************************************************************************
**********