CARDER-BEES. 55 



find one to suit their purpose, they undertake the Herculean 

 task of digging one themselves. They cover this hollow 

 with a dome of moss — sometimes, as we have ascertained, 

 of withered grass. They make use, indeed, of whatever 

 materials may be within their reach ; for they do not 

 attempt to bring anything from a distance, not even when 

 they are deprived of the greater portion by an experimental 

 naturalist. Their only method of transporting materials to 





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Fig. A represents two Carder-bees heckling moss for their uests. 

 B, exterior view of the nest of the carder-bee. 



the building is by pushing them along the ground — the 

 bee, for that purpose, working backwards, with its head 

 turned from the nest. If there is only one bee engaged in 

 this labour, as usually happens in the early spiing, when a 

 nest is founded by a solitary female who has outlived the 

 winter, she transports her little bundles of moss or grass 

 by successive backward pushes, till she gets them home. 



