CHAPTER VI. 



SOLITARY AND SOCIAL BEES. 



The next great group of the Hymenoptera may be summed up in 

 the words which head this chapter. Just as there are Solitary and 

 Social Wasps, so there are Solitary and Social Bees. The habits 

 of these creatures are curiously similar, the Solitary Bees placing 

 their eggs in burrows which they stock with food for the future 

 young, and the Social Bees forming a number of cells in which 

 the young larvae are hatched, and tending them until they are 

 full-fed. The chief distinction is that, whereas the Solitary 

 "Wasps store their burrows with insects as food for the future 

 young, the Solitary Bees empty the pollen of various plants. 

 Most of them, as well as the Social Bees, procure the pollen for 

 themselves, and for this purpose are furnished with a develop- 

 ment of the hind-legs, technically called the " basket." Some 

 species, however, do not possess the basket, and are therefore 

 unable to carry the pollen. Consequently, they are forced to 

 make use of the stores collected by other bees, and treat them 

 exactly as do the parasitic wasps which have already been de- 

 scribed. In the different genera of pollen-carrying bees there 

 is great variety of form in the structure of the basket, but the 

 general principle is the same in all. 



The Solitary Bees begin with the great family of Andrenidse, 

 which are spread over all the insect-producing parts of the world. 

 There are many species in England, so that their habits can be 

 easily watched. Putting aside those that are parasitic, the habits 

 of all the species are tolerably alike. They make burrows, mostly 

 in the ground, and deposit therein a quantity of pollen mixed 

 with honey, technically called " bee-bread." Upon this they 

 place an egg, and thus protect it with a cover. Upon this first 

 cell a second is made, and so the bee proceeds, until it has nearly 



