LIFE-HISTORY OF DOMBUS i 7 



The weather improving, the periods of animation 

 become more frequent and last longer. Now each 

 queen sets to work to search for a nest in which to 

 establish her colony. The nest is usually one that 

 has been made and afterwards vacated by a field- 

 mouse, vole, or other small mammal, and consists of 

 line soft fragments of grass or moss, or it may be 

 leaves, woven into a ball with a small cavity in the 

 middle. Most of the species choose a nest that is 

 under the ground, access to which is obtained by 

 a tunnel varying in length from a few inches to a 

 yard or more, but generally about two feet. The 

 remaining species dwell in nests on the surface of 

 the ground hidden in thick grass or under ivy ; 

 these are often called " carder-bees " because they 

 collect material from around the nest and add it to 

 the nest, combing it together with their mandibles 

 and legs. But some of the underground-dwelling 

 species occasionally occupy nests on or near the 

 surface, often in strange situations, such as under 

 boxes or in old birds' nests, rotten stumps, or out- 

 houses, while. some of the surface-dwelling species 

 are sometimes found inhabiting nests under the 

 ground, reached by a short tunnel. 



In places where there is much moss or soft dead 



grass the carder-bee queen may sometimes construct 



the entire nest herself. It often happens that the 



mouths of the holes leading to the underground 



nests are overgrown with grass or ivy and half 



closed with debris, consequently they are not easily 



discovered, and the queens of the underground- 



c 



