348 , 
BEK. 
female is of large size, measuring near an inch 
in length; the male is considerahlj- smaller, and 
the neuter or labouring bee still smaller than fhe 
male. 
The Apis terrcstris is of equal size with the 
former, and is of a black colour, with the thorax 
marked by a yellow bar, and the abdomen tipped 
with white. 
The Apis hortorum resembles the preceding, 
but has the thorax and abdomen yellow in front, 
and the body tipped with white like the former. 
The Humble-Bees in general live in small 
societies of forty or sixty together, in an oval or 
roundish nest, excavated to a small depth beneath 
the surface of the ground, and formed of branches 
of moss, compacted together, and lined with a 
kind of coarse wax. In this nest, which measures 
from four to six inches in diameter, are construct- 
ed several o\'al cells, which however are not the 
work of the complete insects, but are the cases 
spun by the larvm, and in which they remain dur- 
ing their state of chrysalis: the eggs are deposited 
among heaps of a kind of coarse honey or bee- 
bread, placed here and there at uncertain inter- 
vals; on this substance the larvae feed during their 
growing state: lastly, in every nest are placed a 
few nearly cylindric cells or goblets of coarse wax, 
and filled with pure honey, on which feed the 
complete insects, 
llcaiimur observes that Humble-Bees arc some- 
times infested with numerous small worms of the 
tribe of Ascai’idcs. These arc found in the middle 
