Insecta. 31 



90) Sladen, F. W. L., The Humble-Bee. London (Macmillan & Co.) 1912. 

 gr. 8*^. XIII and 283 S. Taf. I— VI, Textfig. 1—34. 



This veiy complete and interesting book is an account of *'the Humble- 

 Bee, its life-history and how to domesticate it: witli descriptions of 

 all the British species of Bambus and Psithijrus". The first seven chap- 

 ters consist of an Introduction and six others on more general matters, while 

 the eighth contains a systematic account of the 17 British species of Bomhus 

 and the 6 British Psitlnjrns. This is followed by a brief outline of how to form 

 a collection and various anecdotes and notes, and there is a füll index. The text 

 contains a number of diagrams and photographs, while the systematic portion is 

 illustrated by 6 excellent plates. 5 of these consist of coloured figures (all na- 

 tural size), photographed direct from nature, of all the British Bonibi and Psi- 

 thyri: queen, worker, and male are figured in almost every case, while in those 

 species that vary much in colour more than one form is shown. Plate VI con- 

 sists of outlines of the cT armature of all the British species. 



The life-history of Bombus is fully dealt with in Chapter IL The author 

 describes the hibernation of the queens, their awakening in the following spring, 

 and their search for nests; the manner in which, on the first two or three oc- 

 casions of leaving the newly-found nest, they take note of the entrance, so that 

 they may find it again, first crawling round it, then taking wing and describing 

 "a series of circles, each one larger and swifter than the last". Then follows the 

 collecting of pollen and laying of the first batch of eggs. The author considers 

 that the pollen reaches the corbiculae of the queen s hind tibiae in the following 

 manner. It is gathered from the hairs of the body on to the brush of stiff 

 bristles clothing the inner side of the posterior metatarsus: it is then scraped 

 off this brush by the comb on the end of the opposite hind-leg, into the con- 

 cave "receiver" at the end of that tibia: by the straightening of that leg the 

 „auricle" (a little process at the base of the metatarsus) presses up into the 

 receiver, pushing the pollen up into the distal end of the corbicula, where the 

 wall of stiff hairs surrounding it is interrupted: finally the pollen is patted down 

 into place in the corbicula by the middle tarsi (see p. 21, and fig. 5). 



The growth of the larvae in their waxen covering, and the grooved shape 

 of the first cocoon-mass, so admirably adapted for allowing the queen to spread 

 her body over and incubate her brood, are described : also the emergence of the 

 first workers, the laying of further batches of eggs by the queen and consequent 

 growth of the comb, so leading into an account of the manifold activities of a 

 populous colony. The author divides the British species into "pollen- s torers", 

 certain imderground species which build special large cells to contain the pollen, 

 and "pocket-makers" which construct little pouches for the pollen on the 

 outside of the waxen coverings containing the bunches of larvae. He considers 

 this difference really important, since the latter method of placing pollen in con- 

 tact with the brood is probnbly a survival of the more primitive method of 

 feeding employed by solitary bees. The pocket-makers consist of several Un- 

 derground species which prime their egg-cells with pollen and lay their eggs on 

 it ("pollen-primers"': — this is also a vestige of the more primitive habits of 

 solitary bees), and of the carder-bees, which live on the surface of the ground 

 and do not so prime their egg-cells. 



It has been thought that in some species a "trumpeter" sounds a reveille 

 to the whole colony early in the morning. Probably this has arisen from the fact 

 that in the badly-ventilated populous Underground nests a worker will often 

 maintain a continuous fanning with the wings for some time, for purposes of 



