It 
INTER ODU Cron 
Everysopy knows the burly, good-natured bumble- 
bee. Clothed in her lovely coat of fur, she is the 
life of the gay garden as well as of the modestly 
blooming wayside as she eagerly hums from flower 
to flower, diligently collecting nectar and pollen 
from the break to the close of day. Her methodical 
movements indicate the busy life she leads—a life 
as wonderful and interesting in many of its details 
as that of the honey-bee, about which so much has 
been written. Her load completed, she speeds 
away to her home. Here, in midsummer, dwells 
a populous and thriving colony of humble-bees. 
The details of the way in which this busy community 
came into being, what sort of edifice the inhabitants 
have built, how they carry out their duties, and what 
eventually will become of them will be explained 
later: it is enough at present to note that the colony, 
like a hive of honey-bees, consists chiefly of workers, 
small modified females, whose function in life is not 
to give birth but to labour for the establishment, 
bringing home and depositing in cells load after 
B 
