254 TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. 
humble bee of our gardens. It enters the subterranean nests of 
this species, lays its eggs, and then returns to the fields. 
The habits of the common hive bees, and their methods of cell 
building, are so well known, that it is not necessary to describe them 
Psithyrus vestalis. 
here. It is a curious fact that many virgin bees lay eggs whence 
male larve are always derived, and that this female after fe- 
cundation lays other eggs which turn into workers and fertile 
emales. . This faculty forms part of the phenomena of partheno- 
genesis, which have been so carefully studied of late years. Hive 
bees when wild establish themselves in cavities, such as those 
