292 THE COURTSHIP OF ANIMALS 



A clue to many of the more puzzling features presented 

 by the domestic economy of the Hive-bee may be obtained 

 by a study of the life-history of other species of social- 

 bees which have not attained to so high a degree of 

 specialization. The Bumble-bees afford illustrations of 

 the stages through which Apis mellifica, the Hive-bee, 

 must have passed. 



In the stone Bumble-bee {Bomhus lapidarius)^ a queen, 

 who has passed the winter in blissful sleep, will lay the 

 foundation for a new colony on some bright May morning 

 by collecting a small quantity of moss. This done, she 

 starts forth to gather pollen, with which, under cover of 

 the moss, she forms a waxen cell, mixing the newly- 

 gathered pollen with the wax so mysteriously formed 

 within her body, as in the case of Hive-bees of the 

 worker type. Slowly and laboriously this waxen cradle 

 grows. Fashioned like a globe, its inner surface is 

 lined with pollen soaked in honey, and with the last 

 pellet of this a number of eggs are laid and the nursery 

 is sealed up. By the time these labours are completed 

 the queen is worn out ; she therefore rests awhile, clinging 

 to the outer wall of this cunningly-wrought cradle. After 

 a few days' rest she adds another and commonly yet a 

 third cell to the first, joining each to the other with wax. 

 But before the third cradle is finished the eggs in the first 

 have hatched. The youngsters will have consumed 

 the layer of honey-soaked pollen placed there for this 

 purpose. They therefore require feeding, and thus the 

 labours of this very industrious queen are still further 

 increased. Divining the needs of her imprisoned first-born, 

 she bites a small hole through the nursery wall and pours 

 in a quantity of honey for their sustenance. In due time 

 they are " full-fed," and each spins for itself a silken 



