94 BEES AND WASPS [CH. 



work of nourishing her young to the Bomb-its workers ; 

 she does not bestir herself till the morning is far 

 advanced, and returns, empty-handed, early in the 

 evening ; she may even, in the middle and later part 

 of the season, assume to herself the privileges of the 

 lawful "queen," and stay at home all day moving 

 about within the nest, as is the way with the "queen," 

 but, instead of laying eggs, eating up the stores of 

 pollen and honey intended for others. It is this 

 wholesale robbery of stores that causes the marked 

 diminution in the Bombus population. 



At the onset of autumn the young female Psiihyri, 

 having mated, hibernate in various snug retreats, 

 ready, if no Nemesis befalls them, to continue the evil 

 work of their mother in the following summer. 



From an economic, agricultural point of view the 

 humble-bees are of great value to the farmer and 

 gardener. The flower-loving habits of all bees render 

 them most important agents in the pollination of 

 flowers and in the consequent "setting" of the fruit: 

 it is indeed recognised that hives of honey-bees are 

 an almost indispensable adjunct to a successful fruit 

 farm. The various wild bees play their part in this 

 matter; but the humble-bees being strong, power- 

 fully built insects, and provided with very long 

 tongues, are able to visit, with satisfaction to them- 

 selves, many of the tightly closed papilionaceous 

 flowers which demand for their opening more strength 



