iv] DIPLOPTERA 57 



and of other harmful insects. Moreover in a small 

 way they act as scavengers on the earth's surface, for 

 they quickly strip the bones of small dead animals of 

 all skin and flesh for the benefit of the grubs, and thus 

 prevent carrion from becoming offensive. 



CHAPTER V 



BEES (ANTHOPHILA, OR FLOWER-LOVERS) 



As in the predaceous Aculeates, so too among 

 those which store up honey and pollen for their larvae, 

 we find both solitary and social species. Many of 

 the former have habits resembling those of the 

 fossorial wasps : some dig holes in the ground, some 

 in wood ; some make their nests of bits of leaves, 

 others of mud ; while some advance towards the 

 condition of the honey-bee in that they use both wax 

 or other material secreted from their own bodies and 

 the woolly coverings of the leaves and stems of 

 certain plants (Anthidium) or moss and dry grass 

 (species of Bombus) in the construction of their 

 nests. It is indeed thought that the bees are de- 

 scended from insects whose habits were those of the 

 existing Fossors, but that they have progressed and 

 undergone many modifications both in habits and in 

 structure, particularly of their jaw apparatus and 

 hind legs, since the time when they discovered that 



