402 THE HIVE BEE. 



entering so long and dark a channel. The tube is always curved. When the burrow is com- 

 pleted, the Wasp lays its egg in the tunnel, and packs in it a series of little green caterpillars, 

 which serve as food for the larva. When the arrangements are completed, the Wasp takes 

 down her tube, and employs the materials in closing the mouth of the tunnel. The technical 

 name of this insect is Odynerus muraria. Another species is also known to possess this curious 

 faculty. 



The true Wasps, or Vespidse, come next in order. These insects are gregarious in their 

 habits, building nests in which a large, but uncertain number of young are reared. The 

 common Wasp makes its nest within the ground, sometimes taking advantage of the deserted 

 hole of a rat or mouse, and sometimes working for itself. The substance of which the nest is. 

 made is a paper-like material, obtained by nibbling woody fibres from decayed trees or bark, 

 and kneading it to a paste between the jaws. The general shape of the nest is globular, and 

 the walls are of considerable thickness, in order to guard the cells from falling earth, a circular 

 aperture being left, through which the inhabitants can enter or leave their home. 



Many species of Wasp inhabit Europe, the HORNET ( Vespa crabro) being the largest, and, 

 indeed, being nearly equal in dimensions to any tropical species. This formidable insect 

 makes a nest very similar to that of the wasp, but the cells are necessarily much larger. The 

 nest is generally placed in hollow trees, but I have known a colony of these insects to establish 

 themselves in an outhouse, and to cause great annoyance before they could be expelled. 



A very pretty nest is also found in Europe, the work of the Vespa britannica. It 

 is suspended to branches, is nearly globular in shape, and extremely variable in size, some 

 specimens being nearly a foot in diameter, while others are comparatively small. A very 

 pretty specimen in my possession is about the size of a tennis ball. Some exotic species make 

 nests, the covering or outer case whereof is thick and tough as pasteboard, and nearly white 

 in color. One of these nests, which is found in the Brazils, is popularly called the Dutchman'* 

 pipe, its shape somewhat resembling an exaggerated pipe-bowl, the aperture for ingress and 

 egress doing duty for the mouth, and the branch on which it is suspended taking the place of 

 the stem. I believe that the insect which forms this curious structure belongs to the genus 

 Chartergus. The central orifice penetrates through all the layers of combs. 



The left-hand figure on the engraving at page 401 represents a fine insect, a native of 

 Brazil, belonging to the Bembecidse. This species is in the habit of catching grasshoppers of 

 considerable size, carrying them off, and stocking with these insects the habitation made for 

 its young. A very fine species of Chrysis is parasitic upon it. 



THERE are, perhaps, few insects so important to mankind as those which procure the 

 sweet substance so well known by the name of honey. Nearly all the honey-making Hymen- 

 optera are furnished with stings, and in many species the poison is fearfully intense. Some 

 of these insects, such as the HIVE BEE, which is represented in the accompanying engraving, 

 make waxen cells of mathematical accuracy, the larvae being placed in separate cells, and fed 

 by the neuters. In some cases, such as the common HUMBLE BEE, the cells are egg-shaped, 

 each cell being either occupied by a larva, or filled with honey ; while in some species the eggs- 

 are placed parasitically in the nests of other bees, so that the larvae feed either upon the stores- 

 of food gathered for the involuntary host, or upon the body of the deluded insect itself. 



The Hive Bee is the typical example of the honey-gatherers, but its general economy is 

 too well known to need much description. Suffice it to say that, as in the ants, the com- 

 munity consists of males, females, and neuters, but that in the Bees, all the members of the 

 establishment are winged, and the wings are permanent. In each hive there is one fully- 

 developed female, called the queen, several others in process of development, and intended to 

 be the heads of future establishments, a limited number of males, and a vast band of neuters, 

 i. e., undeveloped females. The males have no sting, but both the females and neuters are 

 armed with this tiny, but formidable weapon. Since in civilized countries the Hive Bees are 

 kept in habitations of limited size, their numbers soon outgrow their home, and a large number 

 accordingly quit the hive under the government of the old queen, the rule of the hive being 

 taken up with one of the young queens, which has burst from its cell in the meanwhile. A 



