ROADSIDE LIFE. 



257 



In the latter part of the summer the pupils should 

 collect the three forms of some of the more common 

 species of bumblebees. 



The nests of bumblebees are made in deserted 

 mouse-nests. In early spring a queen finds a nest in 

 which a mouse has passed the winter, and places 

 within it a ball of pollen, upon which she lays some 

 eggs. As soon as the larvae hatch they eat into the 

 pollen mass in all directions and, when full-grown, 

 make for themselves silken cocoons and change to 

 pupae. These cocoons the old bees strengthen with 

 wax, and after the young bees vacate them they are 

 used as storing cells for honey. This explains the 

 irregularity of the bumblebee-comb. The first 

 broods of the season are workers, and relieve the 

 queen of all duties except laying the eggs. Later in 

 the summer males and young queens appear. In the 

 autumn the colony breaks up, and all of the bees ex- 

 cept the young queens perish. These crawl away in- 

 to some protected place and pass the winter. In the 

 spring each queen that has survived the winter founds 

 a new colony, performing, until a brood of workers 

 has been developed, both the duties of queen and of 

 worker. 



THE HOLLYHOCK.* 



Seraglio of the Sultan Bee ! 



I listen at the waxen door, 

 And hear the zithern's melody 



And sound of dancing on the floor. 



Frank Dempster Sherman. 



* From Lyrics for a Lute, by permission of Messrs. Houghton 

 Mifflin & Co. 



