36o HYMENOPTERA ACULEATA. 



" Carder Bees." Mr. F. W. L. Sladen, of Eipple Court, 

 near Dover, has lately paid a good deal of attention 

 to the habits of the British Bomhi, and in the remarks 

 which follow I have drawn largely from information very 

 kindly furnished by him. The ? ^oto^ms, as is well known, 

 hibernates in an impregnated state, waking up in the first 

 warm days of early spring, to set to work and found a new 

 colony. She commences by searching up and down hedge- 

 banks, etc., to find a suitable locality, either on or in the 

 ground, where she may form her cells ; according to Mr. 

 Sladen's observations, this is usually a deserted mouse- 

 nest, or occasionally a bird's-nest, and he doubts if any 

 of the Bomhi lay the original foundation of a nest, 

 but believes that they always appropriate some other. 

 Having settled on her habitation, she brings into it the 

 pollen which she collects ; this she lays in a heap, and in 

 this heap she lays her eggs, in some cases (and Mr. Sladen 

 is inclined to think generally) in a cell excavated for the 

 purpose, which after oviposition is sealed up with wax. By 

 degrees the larvae emerge from the eggs, and feed on the 

 heap of pollen, which the parent bee keeps i-eplenishing 

 for their use, and under which they remain hidden ; she 

 also forms a waxen cell in which she deposits the honey she 

 has brought home in her honey sac. When the larvaa 

 are fully grown they spin themselves cocoons, often of a 

 bright yellow colour, from which emerge worker bees ; 

 these, as soon as they are matured, assist the ? in the 

 collection of honey and pollen, and in the general economy 

 of the nest. The ? goes on laying eggs, and, according 

 to Mr. Sladen, soon remains at home altogether, leaving 

 further out-of-door labour to the workers. The old 

 cocoons from which the workers have emerged are now 

 used as receptacles for honey, and by some species also for 

 storing pollen, the pollen storers making waxen cells ia 

 some numbers for the reception of honey, apparently for 

 immediate use, what is stored one day being generally con- 



