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CHAPTER XIX. 



HYMENOPTERA. ACULEATA. 



THE Apidse form the second family of Bees containing 

 the long-tongued Bees. In the habits of genera in 

 this family we find more variety than in the Andrenida3. 

 Amongst them are found Bees which burrow in all 

 imaginable situations, in the earth, in brick walls, in 

 the stems of brambles and other such plants, in trees, in 

 posts ; some build thin cells, grain by grain, with sand- 

 stones, like the case of some Caddis Worms ; others 

 form them with a substance secreted in their own 

 bodies ; some line them with portions of leaf, others, like 

 the Pelican, with down plucked from their own bodies. 

 Some dwell in cities, each in his own home, others in 

 families, hundreds living under one roof, while of the 

 latter,some (theHiveBees) live under strictly monarchical 

 government, others (the Humble Bees) in a Republic. 



And yet another mode of life remains. Some, brothers 

 and sisters to these most ingenious architects, most 

 tender nurses, most sober housekeepers some, eschew- 

 ing all the dull duties of life, light of form, bright in 

 colouring, spend their little lives without care and with- 

 out labour ; appropriating to themselves the fruit of the 

 toil of others, and, digging no tunnels, shaping no nests, 

 collecting no stores, quietly provide for their young by 

 depositing them in the well-stored nests of those who 



