686 REPORT OF NEW JERSEY STATE MUSEUM. 



sometimes evenly distributed, sometimes massed at one point; but 

 almost always compound hair indicates a member of this super-family. 

 The tongue, besides varying from short to long, may be hinged or straight 

 when at rest, but is always formed for lapping. The hind legs are often 

 modified in the females and workers to serve as pollen carriers, and 

 sometimes the underside of the breast or of the abdomen is modified to 

 serve the same purpose. 



The larvae are apparently legless grubs that live upon pollen or honey 

 or a mixture of the two. Sometimes this is fed as needed as in the hive 

 bee, more visually it is stored in a cell in quantity sufficient to bring the 

 larva from the egg laid in the same cell to maturity. 



The bees, on the whole, are decidedly useful, serving as pollenizers to 

 fruits and flowers, some of the former and many of the latter being 

 completely dependent upon insect aid for their continued existence. 

 Social bees are those in which workers are developed, and of these 

 we have very few; solitary bees are those in which only males and 

 females exist. 



Fig. 288. Types of compound hairs found in bees. 



Family "HALICTID^E. 



These are solitary bees in so far as there are no developed workers, 

 but they may occur in colonies, a large number of specimens building in 

 the same territory. They are usually small in size, have short tongues, 



