2S4 An >ials Entomological Society oj America [Vol. X, 



from the cocoon, and inserts her hind legs down into the cocoon; 

 then she proceeds by a quick, shcing, downward movement of 

 the middle pair of legs, to remove the pollen from the corbicula. 

 The spur on the end of the middle tibia probably serves as a 

 lever to remove the pollen from the pollen-plate. The habit 

 of storing pollen in empty cocoons away from the larval mass, 

 would cause this species of Bombus to be classed as a "pollen- 

 storer" by Sladen (Ent. Mon. Mag. 1899, p. 230). The pollen 

 pellets once deposited, are then packed down by the same 

 worker or by other workers ; the head and mandibles being used 

 in this operation. 



Manipulation of Wax. 



Wax is produced by the females between the basal abdom- 

 inal segments as Sladen also found. The color of the pure 

 wax is white. The wax is scraped from the dorsal parts of 

 the abdominal segments by the hind legs, which are drawn 

 down and over the abdomen ; the inner sides of the hind meta- 

 tarsi serving as brushes. After the hind legs have been drawn 

 over the dorsum of the abdomen, the bumblebee stands on her 

 fore- and middle-legs and rubs the inner surfaces of the hind 

 tarsi together with an up and down motion. This rubbing of 

 the inner surfaces of the hind tarsi removes the particles of 

 wax, which fall down on the comb. Many times I have watched 

 bumblebees scrape the wax from their tarsi in the manner 

 described, and have never seen one select any particular spot 

 for depositing it. It may be mentioned, however, that the wax 

 is usually removed while the worker or queen is standing on 

 the brood or egg cells. The particles of wax, after being dropped, 

 are later usually picked up by other bumblebees and worked 

 into the surrounding comb. Wax was produced in large quan- 

 tities by the old queen, but I never found signs of wax on the 

 new queens. Wax was never noticed on the w^orkers until after 

 the normal color of the pubescence had been assumed. 



One queer feature of this nest was the addition of a number 

 of cells similar in structure to the original honey-pot, and 

 attached to the latter. On July 7, eight other cells had been 

 added to the original honey-pot, making nine in all. Later 

 some of these cells were destroyed by the workers, and the 

 material transferred to another part of the comb. Of these nine 

 cells, six were not used for any purpose, pollen was stored in one, 



