498 HABITATIONS OF INSECTS. 



extend to the interior, I observed the trees more loaded 

 with bees' nests than even in the neighbourhood of 

 Porto Seguro. They consist of a ponderous shell of 

 clay, cemented similarly to martins' nests, swelling from 

 high trees about a foot thick, and forming an oval mass 

 full two feet in diameter. When broken, the wax is ar- 

 ranged as in our hives, and the honey abundant a ." 



Humble-bees are the only tribe besides the hive-bee, 

 that in this part of the world contruct nests by the united 

 labour of the society. The habitations composing them 

 are of a rude construction, and the streets are arranged 

 with little architectural regularity. The number of in- 

 habitants, too, is small, rarely exceeding two or three 

 hundred, and often not more than twenty. The nests 

 of some species, as of JSombus b lapidaria, 13 . terrestris, 

 &c. are found under ground at the depth of a foot or 

 more below the surface ; but as the internal structure of- 

 these does not essentially differ from that of the more 

 singular habitations of B. Muscorum, and as some of the 

 subterranean species occasionally adopt the same situa- 

 tion, I shall confine my description to the latter. 



These nests, which do not exceed six or eight inches 

 in diameter, are generally found in meadows and pas- 

 tures, and sometimes in hedge-rows where the soil is 

 entangled with roots. The lower half occupies a cavity 

 in the soil, either accidentally found ready made, or ex- 

 cavated with great labour by the bees. The upper part 

 or dome of the nest is composed of a thick felted cover- 

 ing of moss, having the interior ceiling coated with a 



a Lindley in R. Military Chronicle, March 1815. 449. 

 b Apis. **. e. 2. K. 



