36 



BULLETIN 67, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



The } T oung of bees are reared in cells which are constructed by the 

 mothers. The food given is a mixture of pollen and honey. Some 



larvae spin a cocoon, in which they 

 transform; others do not. Quite a 

 number of bees (fig. 74) are parasitic 

 on their more industrious relatives, 

 the adult laying eggs in the nest 

 prepared by another bee, and her 

 egg hatching before that of the 

 rightful owner. 



The honey bee is social, and 

 there is a worker caste which 

 builds the cells, collects the nectar and pollen, and cares for the 

 young, the female or queen only laying the eggs. The bumble- 



FlG. 71.— A MUTILLID OR STINGING ANT, SPH.E- 

 ROPHTHALMA OCCIDENTALIS. 



Fig. 72.— A fossorial wasp, Sphex ichneumoneus. 



bees are also social, and make their nests in the ground; a female 



that has hibernated starting a new nest each spring. But most 



bees are solitary; that is, each female 

 makes a nest for herself in the soil, in 

 wood, or under stones. One of these, 

 the leaf -cutter bee (MegachUe), cuts 

 pieces of rose leaves with which to line 

 her nest in a hollow of soft or rotten 

 wood. Bees are the principal factor in 

 the fertilization of all flowers that have 

 colored petals. Indeed, in some coun- 

 tries where they have no bumblebees 



they can not raise clover seed until they have imported these 



bees. 



Fig. 73.— The white-faced hornet 

 Vespa maculata. (After San 



BORN. J 



