BURGLARS 289 



to arouse suspicion or resentment. One can even 

 imagine them asking a polite question as to the 

 progress of the work, and indulging in a little 

 judicious flattery as to the perfect manner in which 

 it is being carried out. 



It is contended by some authors that the victim- 

 ized bee would never suspect that anything was 

 wrong, even if she caught the interloper in the act 

 of depositing eggs, and would only experience 

 annoyance from a stranger being present and 

 possibly getting in her way. Some observers have 

 stated that if a bee returns and finds a stranger in- 

 ner burrow, she politely withdraws to give the 

 intruder an opportunity for departing. It is 

 contended that the artizan having no knowledge 

 of what happens to her offspring after she has sealed 

 up her cells cannot have any fear — even if she sees 

 a strange egg on her store — that anything can 

 interfere with the due course of development. It 

 may be so, but one feels that if there is anything in 

 " instinct " it is here it would come into play to 

 warn the parent. 



Such relationships as we have mentioned are 

 quite common between different species of the 

 Hymenoptera ; but some of them are so much 

 like those we have described that our readers would 

 scarcely thank us for going into details with the 

 others. Several, however, we must mention briefly. 

 The industrious bees that laboriously gather pollen 

 — not for their own use, but in order that their 

 unseen progeny may have sufficient food to last 



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