II 



LIFE-HISTORY OF BOMBUS 



l 9 



measuring about an inch from side to side but only 

 about five-eighths of an inch from top to bottom, 

 with an entrance at the side just large enough for 

 her to pass in and out. 



In the centre of the floor of this cavity she forms 

 a little lump of pollen-paste, consisting of pellets 

 made of pollen moistened with honey that she has 

 collected on the shanks (tibiae) of her hind legs. 

 These she moulds with her jaws into a compact 



pollen and e^ 



ey-pot 



honey po 

 pollen and tq^s 



Fig. 3. Diagram of commencing Nest. 



mass, fastening it to the floor. Upon the top of 

 this lump of pollen she builds with her jaws a circular 

 wall of wax, and in the little cell so formed she lays 

 her first batch of eggs, sealing it over with wax by 

 closing in the top of the wall with her jaws as soon 

 as the eggs have been laid. The whole structure is 

 about the size of a pea. 1 



The method of collecting the pollen employed by 

 the humble-bee and honey-bee, and the apparatus 

 on the legs for carrying it out, are very wonderful 

 and interesting; and as an essential part of the 



1 I think it likely that the eggs are sometimes laid in two lots, separated by 

 an interval of a day or two. Their number varies from 8 to 16 ; generally it 

 is about 12. 



