176 ZOOLOGY. 



mouth of their celh The fecundated females survive the winter, and each 

 couimences a new colony, building cells, depositing eggs, and feeding the 

 young, until these are old enough to take part in the labors of the establish- 

 ment, which is about a month from the time the eggs are laid. Two or thT:-ee 

 broods are raised successively from the same set of cells daring a season. 

 The nests of Yesjxt may be seen upon trees (where they are sometimes from 

 twelve to eighteen inches in diameter), or under the projecting parts of 

 houses. The small American species known as " yellow jackets," build 

 under ground ; and the " paper-wasp," Polistes fuscaia^ attaches its comb 

 (with the mouth of the cells downwards) to the branch of a tree, to the 

 shelving parts of houses, or beneath a stone wdiich has a cavity under it. 

 Polistes {fi<j. 20), Yespa vulgaris {fig. 21), Yespa crahro {fig. 22). "A few 

 species of Polistes collect stores of honey. 



Fam. 18. Andrenidce. In this family, which is allied to the bees in form, 

 there are only males and females. They are solitary ; the female digs a hole 

 in the ground where she deposits her eggs and a stock of paste made of 

 pollen and honey, the hole being afterwards closed. 



Fam. 19. Apidce {2?l. 79, figs. 10-18). The family of the bees contains 

 various groups ditfering in their character and habits. Xylooopa {X. 

 molacea^ fig. 14) bores passages in wood in which the young are placed 

 with a quantity of pollen paste. In the United States, X. victhna bores in 

 the lower surface or edge of white pme structures, particularly about 

 liouses. The species of Bonihus {figs. 10, 13) known as humljJe hees, make 

 their nests under ground, in fields and pastures. The females (which are 

 iiot restricted in number) assist the neuters in working. The colony does 

 not remain together in the winter. JfegacJiile {fig. 12 «, male ; 5, female). 

 Xomada {fig. 15) is distinguished by its bright colors, and Eacera {fig. 16) 

 by its long antennte. 



Apis mellifica {fig. 18 «, female ; J, male ; <?, worker) is the common 

 hive bee. The male (or drone) is somewhat larger than the workers, 

 it is w^ithout a sting, the eyes meet upon the top of the head, the posterior 

 tarsi have the basal articulation lengthened, and not square, as in the 

 neuters, the thorax and aljdomen are less distinctly separated, and the 

 wings are longer than in tlie female and neuter. There may be from six or 

 seven hundred to two thousand males in a hive, but this number is not in 

 proportion to the other inmates. The females have the wings abbreviated, 

 and the abdomen lengthened and provided with a curved sting, that of the 

 workers being straight. The antenna? and feet are paler than in the 

 workers. 



Bees collect honey, pollen, and propolis, the young being fed with a 

 mixture of the two former, whilst the latter (which is a mixture of one part 

 wax to four of resin) is used to stop crevices and make repairs. The wax 

 is a secretion between tlie seo-ments of the lower side of the abdomen of the 

 workers, where it appears in the form of small scales. a 



When accident or death deprives a hive of its queen, great confusion 

 follows, but in a few hours several cells containing worker larvae two or 

 three days old are enlarged, and these young are supplied with the peculiar 

 380 



