MINERS 25 



gathered, mixed with honey and spread as an outer 

 layer over the mass, which now has three feet, 

 fashioned apparently to prevent its rolling and 

 injuring the bee-grub. 



Dasypoda now lays an egg on the top of it, and 

 leaves it whilst she excavates her second chamber. 

 With the material resulting from this work she 

 closes up the entrance to the first chamber, and 

 so saves the labour of carrying it up to the top. 

 In like manner she excavates and provisions the 

 other chambers, laying an egg in each. The pollen- 

 mass is in each case over a hundred times the bulk 

 of the egg, and is just sufficient to satisfy the food 

 cravings of the grub that is to issue from the egg 

 a few days later. The outer layer of the food- 

 ball, with its extra proportion of honey, is evidently 

 more suited for the first digestive efforts of the 

 infant grub, for it eats evenly all round before 

 attacking the less sweetened pollen of the central 

 mass. All the waste due to the vital processes is 

 retained by the grub until all the food is consumed, 

 and then it is voided en bloc. By this arrangement 

 there is no danger of the unconsumed food being 

 polluted, as must otherwise happen. The larva 

 having finished eating, casts its skin, and lies quiescent 

 until the following year, when it becomes a chrysalis 

 and finally a bee. 



Another group of these short-tongued solitary 

 bees is the genus Halictus, whose numerous species 

 are all small, some indeed being the smallest of 

 all bees. Some of these may be seen on emerging 



