86 OUT OF DOORS. 



The spot in which the combs, if they can be so 

 called, are placed, is always enlarged into a rudely 

 globular apartment, in which are found a number of 

 egg-shaped cells not waxen and brittle like those of 

 the hive bee, but brown in colour, and tough, soft, and 

 of a leathery consistence. Neither are they arranged 

 in a regular series, like the cells of the honey bee, 

 wasp, or hornet, but are jumbled together without any 

 apparent order, compacted into masses, and adhering 

 to each other with tolerable firmness. Some of them 

 contain honey of the sweetest and most fragrant cha- 

 racter. Reader, beware that honey, or prepare for a 

 headache and a giddiness for the next six or seven 

 hours. Why the honey should have this effect, or 

 whether it acts in the same manner upon all persons, I 

 cannot say. I know, however, that in my own case, 

 and in that of many others who have also had practical 

 experience of this wild honey, the results have been 

 almost identical. The remaining cells contain young 

 humble-bees in every stage of their existence. 



Interesting though the subject may be, I cannot 

 within this limited space pursue it much further, 

 although I should greatly like to say something of the 

 economy of the sylvan home, and the wondrously modi- 

 fied structure of its inmates as they pass through their 

 several phases of existence. Let me, however, very 

 earnestly commend the humble-bee as an admirable 

 subject for those who desire to study this portion of 

 natural history for themselves. The creatures are of 



