544 



Marvels of Insect Life. 



Photo by 



[H . Basil II. 



Eggs of Humble-Bee. 



The wax dome turned over to show some of the eggs beneath 

 it. These are here shown magnified considerably. 



it with honey ; then with her jaws she 1 

 into a sohd mass. Upon this she consti 

 of which the pohen mass forms the fioor 

 and then closes in the top witli a dome 

 wax to contain honey, which is placed 



Photo l)\ 



Humble-Bee Grubs 



Five grubs are here brought together to show form, etc. In 

 the nest each occupies a separate cell it has eaten into thf 

 mass of pollen and honey beneath them. When full grown 

 each spins an oval cocoon, in which it assumes the chrysalis 

 condition, shown in a later photograph. The grub stage lasts 

 only about one week. 



as well as crosswise, in order to have them 

 perfectly ductile and capable of felting. 

 This also is the quality of material that 

 the humble-bee likes. Sometimes she 

 mixes fragments of fine moss with it, 

 probably to increase its springiness. All 

 this material is taken, bit by bit, in her 

 jaws, passed by her two hinder pairs of legs 

 under her body and accumulated behind 

 her. Then she pierces a tunnel to its centre, 

 where she hollows out an oval chamber. 

 Her home is readv for furnishing. 



She next sets off on a hunt among the 

 liowers, and comes back a little later with 

 her thighs bulging with masses of pollen 

 and her honey-crop filled with nectar. 

 She brushes off the pollen in a little heap 

 upon the floor of her nest and moistens 

 Ivneads it into a paste, which she builds up 

 ucts a ring-like wall of wax — her first cell, 

 In this cell she lays about a dozen eggs, 

 of wax. She also constructs a pot of thin 

 in the doorway of the nest-chamber and 

 filled with honey. The honey-pot is about 

 half an inch across and about three- 

 quarters of an inch deep. This filled, she is 

 ready for the possible advent of a bad day 

 when she cannot steal a few minutes from 

 her nursing duties to fly to the nearest 

 flowers and obtain food. She now takes up 

 her station over her cell, with her face to 

 the door, and actually incubates her eggs. 

 The grubs hatch out upon the fourth day, 

 and set to work feeding upon the floor of 

 the cell. Each scoops out for itself a 

 hollow in the pollen mass, and so that they 

 shall not eat through it to the exterior 

 the mother-bee collects more pollen and 

 plasters it all around the original heap. 

 She also makes a semi-fluid mess of pollen 

 and honey and, cutting a hole in the wax 

 lid of the cell, drops it in upon her grubs. 

 Between the necessary expeditions for 

 collecting food she sits upon the brood 

 mass, from which she can reach \Nith 



