346 



Marvels of Insect Life. 



brood. It is to this arrangement that the higgled\'-piggledy appearance of the 

 nest at the end of the season is due. 



Later in the season, when the mother-bee is getting enfeebled, the older workers 

 take to laying virgin eggs, but these produce males only. The sexual bees produced 

 by the mother earlier in the season are all much smaller than those produced in 

 early autumn, upon which the continuance of the race depends. For the humble- 

 bee communities all come to an end before winter, and the future of the species 

 depends upon the young fertile females who go into hibernation, and are ready to 

 begin egg-laying in spring. 



These humble-bees, of which there are many species — seventeen of them nati\es 

 of our own islands — differ in their nesting habits, some as indicated going under- 

 ground, whilst a few, known as carder-bees, form their nests in slight hollows of 



the surface, covering 

 them with domes of 

 felted grass and moss. 

 These carders are 

 much less numerous 

 in individuals than the 

 subterranean builders. 

 Smith says that the 

 communities of a 

 common underground 

 builder ^ are the most 

 numerous. One such 

 nest he found to con- 

 tain 107 males, 360 

 females, and 180 

 workers ; a surface- 

 builder's - nest would 

 contain about half 

 these numbers of 

 inmates. 



The empty cocoons 



from which came the first batch of workers are utilized by them for the 

 storage of pollen, and by some species as honey-pots for the immediate 

 use of the commonwealth. We have mentioned the readiness of the under- 

 ground-builders to adapt a mouse's nest and run to their own purposes ; and the 

 surface-builders are not above similar economy of labour. We have found them 

 making use of a field-vole's nest. They are not likely to take possession of such 

 places before they have been abandoned by the original owners, for mice are great 

 enemies to the brood, though they know better than to make an attack when the 

 bees are at home. Smith has recorded an instance of a humble-bee ^ taking possession 

 of a wren's nest that was occupied by a clutch of the bird's eggs. Possibly, the bee 

 thought they were cocoons ; anvway, she heaped up her collected pollen among 

 them, and so disgusted the wren by her action that the eggs were abandoned, and 



Photo by\ jl . Udilui. 



HONEY-PoTf . 



The bumble-bees' storage for honey shown upon an enlarged scale. The receptacle marked A 

 has been built up specially of wax. B is a vacated cocoon with wax additions to serve the 

 same purpose. The others are all empty cocoons that have been utilized for storage. 



^ l-)ombiis tcrrcstris. 



" B. s\i\aiiini, or J'>. aiiroriiin. 



^ J->. a"roruni. 



