POPULAR SCIENCE 



SOME OTHER BEES 



By HERBERT MACE 

 I 



The classification of insects is based primarily upon the 

 structure of the wings, but certain other features are found in 

 each order, the development of which is particularly marked 

 and on which survival or prevalence seems to depend. Thus, 

 the Diptera are remarkable for their astounding powers of 

 reproduction, and the Lepidoptera for diversity of colour and 

 marking, enabling the species to achieve perfect concealment 

 under a great variety of conditions. 



Hymenoptera are particularly notable for the extreme care 

 they take to provide for future generations, special structures 

 being prepared for the habitation of the helpless larvae and 

 quantities of food collected to sustain them during the infant 

 stages. Between the gall-flies, which, by merely puncturing 

 a stem or leaf, induce an abnormal growth which automatically 

 brings an ample supply of food within reach of the sedentary 

 larva, and the social bees and wasps, which actually provide 

 the young with food as required, every conceivable modification 

 of this principle is to be found. 



This care is rendered necessary by the fact that the number 

 of young produced by the individual is in all cases relatively 

 small. Few moths, flies, or beetles produce less than fifty to a 

 hundred eggs, while in many cases the number runs into several 

 hundreds, a large margin thus being allowed for inevitable 

 losses when the larva is more or less left to its own devices. 

 Hymenopterous insects, however, produce very few young. In 

 most cases, ten to twenty in a brood is the limit, and particular 

 care of this small number is necessary if the race is to be 

 continued. 



At first sight, seeing the enormous number of eggs laid by a 

 queen bee during the summer, this may seem a mis-statement, 

 but it should be remembered that the neuters which form the 

 bulk of the hive population — as of the vespiary or formicarium — 

 are not, strictly speaking, individuals at all, for they are 



37S 



