TRUE BEES 



3009 



a single female which has hibernated usually in some hole in the ground which 

 it excavates for the purpose. The hive bees, on the contrary, swarm, that is, they 

 send off a full-grown population under a queen ready to enter upon the organized life 

 of an industrial community at once. The different forms of humblebees are much 

 the same as those of the hive bees, namely, large females; workers or undeveloped 

 females; small females which are similar to the large (or queens) in structure; and 

 males. One very strange habit has been recorded and confirmed by subsequent ob- 

 servations. A small female is set apart for the duty of awakening the nest every 



I. COMMON BUMBLEBEE WITH NEST; 2. STONE BUMBLEBEE. 

 (Natural size.) 



morning with her piercing note, and has been called the "trumpeter." It seems 

 that only those nests which are large and have plenty of spare hands can afford 

 this luxury. 



Humblebees, both as regards appearance and habits, are too well known to 

 need description. Of the two species figured in the annexed illustration, the 

 common humblebee {Bombus terrestris) forms small rounded nests of carded moss. 

 On the other hand, the stone humblebee (B. lapidarius) makes its habitation in 

 cavities among stones, where it forms an oval nest, of which only the sides are cov- 

 ered with moss and grass. 



