316 BRITISH BEES. 



the Dipterous genera,, Volucella and Conops, are very 

 destructive to their larvae, the first of these genera in 

 its colouring greatly resembling the species upon which 

 it preys. Foxes, weasels, field-mice, all prey upon them, 

 and, like schoolboys, often destroy the bee for the sake 

 of its honey-bag, an instance of which I have before 

 recorded as illustrative of their endurance of the loss of 

 a considerable portion of the body without its being 

 fatal. 



The most interesting part of their history is perhaps 

 that upon which I have not yet enlarged, namely, the 

 structure of their nests. This is particularly the case 

 with the carder-bees, which felt and plait the filaments 

 of moss to form its whole enclosure. Such species se- 

 lect a spot close to an abundant supply of the material ; 

 this they bite off and form pellets of. To these nests a 

 moderately long arched passage is formed of the same 

 material, of sufficient size to permit the free passage of 

 the bees to and fro. This necessarily is shorter at first 

 and leads to a smaller receptacle when the parent bee 

 works alone. But as her offspring of workers increases, 

 the passage is lengthened and the nest enlarged. To 

 construct it, when in full activity, the bees form a chain, 

 one behind the other, extending from the growing ma- 

 terial to the entrance of their passage to the nest, all 

 their heads being turned towards the moss and their backs 

 to the nest. The first bites off the raw material, rolls it 

 and twists it, and passes it to the second, by whom and 

 the succeeding ones it undergoes further manipulation, 

 and where the chain terminates at the commencement 

 of the passage another bee receives it and conveys it 

 along this into the interior, and then applies it itself 

 or passes it to others thus employed where it is re- 



