ANTS, WASPS, AND BEES. 213 



with which the loose filaments of the moss are com- 

 bined, so that one cannot be separated from another 

 without tearing the whole in pieces. In this way 

 some of the species build. In all the communities, 

 which vary in size, the domestic arrangements are the 

 same ; the females and neuters are the labourers, per- 

 forming all the building, and rearing the young. The 

 function of the males is restricted to the perpetuation 

 of the species. 



There is scarcely a more industrious or instructive 

 group of insects to be found than the bees, even ex- 

 clusive of the hive-bee, which has ever been indicated 

 as the pattern of industry and ingenuity. Even the 

 brief observations which the limits of this work 

 permit us to make must be sufficient to establish this 

 fact. Let us hope that it may induce some who have 

 never paid any attention to their habits hitherto, to 

 exercise an observant eye on the economy of these 

 humble creatures, which may furnish them with silent 

 and simple lessons for their guidance through life. 



Wasps are generally grouped, for the purposes of 

 study, in two groups, the solitary wasps, and the 

 social wasps. The solitary wasps dwell apart by 

 themselves, and the social wasps in communities. 

 The former very much resemble the latter to the 

 unlrained eye, and may be seen in summer flying 

 about flowers, preparing for the great operation of 

 their lives, the perpetuation of their species. 



The social wasps are in part builders in the ground, 

 as in sandy banks, and part on trees or externally. 

 The tree wasps found in this country consist of but 

 three species, and of these one is very rare, so that 



