labourers in these marshes who were mowing the 
hay there, that they frequently came across the nests 
of a savage yellow bee which they feared to disturb 
more than a wasp’s nest, I asked them when they 
next found a nest to let me know, and on July 21 
was summoned to take two nests, both of this 
species, situated only about ten yards apart in a hay 
field. So great was the men’s fear of getting stung 
that they did not dare to approach near enough to 
show me the exact spots, and I found that, as soon 
as I disturbed the nests, the workers flew round my 
head in a most menacing manner ; they also had the 
disagreeable trick of persisting in doing this, follow- 
ing me wherever I went for a minute or two. In 
this way the workers of muscorum behave quite 
differently to those of terrestris, which only attack the 
lower part of the body and will not follow one to 
any great distance. It was, however, quite easy to 
remove both nests without getting stung by taking 
care not to disturb them much until nearly all the bees 
had been captured. The nest material was dead 
grass blades, and the stronger nest contained 52 
workers, but not nearly all the workers had emerged, 
There were two waxen honey-pots of a regular, tall, 
and slender shape, attached to the outside of the 
comb at some distance from one another. The 
cocoons were of the same pale-yellow tint as those 
of helferanus ; the wax was a shade darker than that 
of helferanus. The nests were transferred to my 
garden, but they did not flourish well there owing, 
perhaps, to the hot, dry weather that prevailed, for 
