BEE BROTHERHOOD. 57 



We have now something to say about the Honey-Bee's nume- 

 rous kinsfolk and acquaintance. Novices in this matter will 

 perhaps be surprised to learn that the Bee brotherhood is a very 

 numerous one, something like two hundred species being found in 

 Britain alone. If anybody desires to cultivate the acquaintance 

 of this large circle, we recommend him to procure at once the 

 " Catalogue of the Bees of Great Britain," by Mr. Frederick 

 Smith, of the British Museum a book which, though published 

 in the official blue, and in fact, no less than in name, a catalogue, 

 is yet so full of interesting facts, the fruits of some twenty years 

 of loving study and observation, that it seems to have a perpetual 

 hum of Bees about it, and sends the mind off perforce to the 

 wide-spreading heaths and commons, all aglow with the " bonny 

 blooming heather," where the air is ever filled with bee melody. 



Next to the Honey-Bee, the best-known members of the tribe 

 are doubtless the Humble-Bees, which are amongst the first to 

 greet us in early spring. In Hampshire these insects are " Dum- 

 bledors ;" in other districts "Bumble-Bees" and "Hummel- 

 Bees ;" while in Scotland the brown species are known as the 

 " Foggie-Bee," no idea apparently existing that there is more 

 than one species of that colour. The Humble-Bees are all social 

 insects, and live in communities, consisting, as in the case of the 

 Honey-Bee, of males, females, and workers, the number of indi- 

 viduals in each nest being small, however, in comparison with 

 the teeming population of the hive, and never exceeding two or 

 three hundred. The nests of these insects are for the most part 

 constructed on the surface of the ground, in meadows, pastures, 

 and open woods, the material employed being moss, when the 

 builders can get it, and when not, any convenient material that 

 comes to hand. Mr. Smith mentions a case in which a knowing 

 " Foggie-Bee," being hard driven for material for her domicile, 

 repaired to a stable, and gathering up little bundles of the short 

 hair which had been curried from the horses, set about composing 

 her nest entirely of horse-hair. In the case of some of the Humble- 

 Bees, the nests are built under ground ; and this difference in 

 habit is marked, it seems, by a great difference in the spirit of 

 the architects, for while the above-ground builders exhibit very 

 little courage or pugnacity, the dwellers below defend their nests 

 with much resolution. 



The Solitary-Bees exhibit great diversity of taste in the matter 



