52 THE HUMBLE-BEE 1 
seen the workers of &. ¢errestris attack the new-laid 
male and queen eggs, but in a much less determined 
manner. 
The young males leave the nest as soon as they 
are able to fly, and do not return again for food or 
shelter. Their life, though idle, is brief, and does 
not last more than three or four weeks. The young 
queens may sometimes be seen returning to the nest, 
occasionally with pollen on their legs, but they too 
soon leave it for good when they get mated, and 
seek their winter quarters. 
As the old queen ages she gradually loses her 
hair. First, the greater part of the abdomen, and 
then the mesonotum, or central part of the thorax, 
become more or less bald. The queens of terrestris 
lose their hair more rapidly and completely than 
those of any other species that I have observed. 
With advancing age the queen’s prolificness falls 
off rapidly, and she is often scarcely able to lay 
enough eggs to keep the workers fully employed ; 
some of the latter then lay eggs which, however, 
produce males only. A laying worker quickly loses 
much of the hair on its abdomen, and by this means 
may often be discovered. Some species, particu- 
larly Zapidarius and terrestris, are more liable to 
develop laying workers than others, and in a normal 
nest of ¢ervestris, even while the queen is still pro- 
lific, eggs may often be found in the undersized 
workers with malformed wings that never leave 
the nest; but I believe that these eggs are seldom 
developed and laid. Although I once caught a 
