92 THE HUMBLE-BEE v 
bring them home and prepare a domicile for them. 
The bees will be none the worse for being confined 
in the jar for one or two hours, provided they have 
been supplied with air and are not too numerous— 
fifty are enough for a 1 |b. jam jar of 2% ins. dia- 
meter. The brood will not suffer from the tempor- 
ary loss of bees if it is not exposed for long to hot 
sunshine or a cold wind. 
Humble-bees cannot be kept in wooden hives 
like honey-bees, mainly for two reasons; one is 
that the jarring caused by the opening and shutting 
of the hive would throw them into excitement and 
confusion, and the other is that in order to keep the 
nest sweet and clean it is necessary for it to rest 
upon, or be surrounded by earth. 
The simplest way to re-establish the colony is to 
place the comb, surrounded with a good supply of 
moss or curly, soft, dead blades of grass, upon the 
ground—any convenient part of the garden will do 
—putting a large box or flower-pot upside down 
over it to protect it from sunshine and rain. The 
bees will soon draw the material over the comb, 
making themselves very comfortable and warm 
underneath it. But if a view of the comb is de- 
sired it should be placed without any material under 
a Sladen cover (see page 109), or enclosed in a 
box scarcely larger than itself and having no top 
or bottom, the box being covered with a sheet 
of glass. This box may be placed on the ground 
inside an outer box, but for frequent or long-con- 
tinued observations a much more convenient and 
