ipS ARTHROPODA 



wasps feed the young continually through the larval stage of about 

 two weeks. The white-faced hornet makes a large paper nest. 



The Chrysidoidea are parasitic Hymenoptera, about one-half inch 

 long, feeding on larvae of other Hymenoptera, or on the stored food 

 in their nests. 



Bees. — The Apoidea include the bees. Bees are stouter bodied 

 than wasps and usually hairy. Their tarsal segments are flattened 

 and enlarged for carrying pollen. 



The short-tongued bees are either solitary or gregarious, but never 

 social. Most of them are mining bees, sinking perpendicular shafts 

 a foot into the ground of grassy fields. The long-tongued bees 

 {Apidae) have the lower lip greatly developed for securing nectar. 

 The leaf cutter is a solitary species depositing her eggs in a hole in 

 some trees, with a supply of pollen and nectar for the young, and 

 then abandoning them. The guest bees {Psithyrus), regarded as 

 degenerate bumble-bees, have no worker forms but infest the nests 

 of solitary bees. 



The social bees or " bumble-bees " {Bombus) live in communities 

 like the ants. They are important in the pollination of clovers. 

 (See page 484.) The queen usually starts her nest in a deserted 

 mouse's nest. The honey bee {Apis mellifera),^ a native of Europe, 

 has been domesticated the world over for centuries. There are 

 two genera, one stingless, the other including our common hive bee. 

 The colony consists of queens, drones and neuter workers. The 

 queen is fed on " royal jelly," which is a nutritious fluid excreted by 

 the nurses. The bee is able to lift and carry about twenty-five 

 times its own weight (Figure 93). 



Honey. — For centuries honey has been used for food and at the 

 present time the United States produces about 250,000,000 pounds 

 of honey annually. Although it is reported to be lacking in vitamins 

 and minerals, honey is esteemed as a delicacy and is used in the 

 preparation of medicines and candies. 



"The honeys of Hymettus and of Hybla were especially famous 

 In ancient times; and both retain to the present day their char- 

 acteristic flavor of wild thyme." (Consult L. Whibley, "A Com- 

 panion to Greek Studies." Cambridge University Press, 1905.) 



* Alpatov, W. W., 1929, furnishes a new classification of bees in "Biometrical stud- 

 ies on variation and races of the honey bee {Apis mellifera)". Quart. Rev. of Biol., 

 vol. 4, no. I, pp. 1-58, March. Vergil, in one of the finest passages of ancient poetry 

 (Georgics, Book IV), treats of the culture of bees. He discusses the placing of hives, 

 the managing of swarms, and describes a battle between two discordant "kings." 



