58 



IXSECT ARCHITECTURE. 



nest seldom exceed sixty. There are three sizes of bees, ol 

 which the females are the largest; but neither these nor 

 the males are, as in the case of the hive-bee, exempt from 

 labour, the females, indeed, always found the nests, since 

 they alone survive the winter, all the rest perishing with 

 cold. In each nest, also, are several females, that live in 

 harmony together. 



The carder-bees may be easily distinguished from their 



Interior views of Carder-Bee's Nest. 



congeners (of the same genus), by being not unlike the 

 coloui' of the withered moss with which they build their 

 nests, having the fore part of their back a dull orange, and 

 hinder part ringed with different shades of greyish yellow. 

 They are not so large as the common humble-bee (Bomhus 

 terrestris, Latr.), but rather shorter and thicker in the body 

 than the common hive-bee (^Ajyis melUfica.) 



