498 HABITATIONS OF INSECTS. 



extend to the interior, I observed the trees more loaded 

 with bees' nests than even in the neighbourhood of 

 Porto Seguro. They consist of a ponderous shell of 

 clay, cemented similarly to martins' nests, swelling from 

 high trees about a foot thick, and forming an oval mass 

 full two feet in diameter. When broken, the wax is ar- 

 ranged as in our hives, and the honey abundant ='." 



Humble-bees are the only tribe besides the hive-bee, 

 that in this part of the world contract nests by the united 

 labour of the society. The habitations composing them 

 are of a rude construction, and the streets are arranged 

 with little architectural regularity. The number of in- 

 habitants, too, is small, rarely exceeding two or three 

 hundred, and often not more than twenty. The nests 

 of some species, as of Bombns^ lajndaria, B. terrestrisy 

 &c. are found under ground at the depth of a foot or 

 more below the surface ; but as the internal structure of 

 these does not essentially differ from that of the more 

 singular habitations of B. Muscorum, and as some of the 

 subterranean species occasionally adopt the same situa- 

 tion, I shall confine my description to the latter. 



These nests, which do not exceed six or eight inches 

 in diameter, are generally found in meadows and pas- 

 tures, and sometimes in hedge-rows where the soil is 

 entangled with roots. The lower half occupies a cavity 

 in the soil, either accidentally found ready made, or ex- 

 cavated with great labour by the bees. Tiie upper part 

 or dome of the nest is composed of a thick felted cover- 

 ing of moss, having the interior ceiling coated with a 



" Lindley in R. Military Chronicle, Mai'ch 1815. 449. 

 '• A2yis. **. e. 2. K. 



