LIFE-HISTORY OF BOMBUS 35 



she commences to make the cup to receive them 

 by collecting wax with her jaws, and depositing 

 it in the selected place in the form of a ring, 

 enclosing a space ^ in. to \ in. across, the size 

 depending on the number of eggs to be laid. 

 On this foundation she builds the wall to a height 

 of about y\ in., no wax being placed in the 

 bottom of the cup. At first the building is carried 

 on intermittently and in a desultory manner, but 

 an increasing amount of attention is paid to it, 

 and the final touches are applied hurriedly. She 

 gives the observer the impression that she is afraid 

 the cell will not be finished before she has to com- 

 mence laying. Suddenly she leaves off work, and, 

 turning round, places the tip of her abdomen into 

 the cup, which she clasps with her hind feet. In 

 this position she remains for three or four minutes, 

 her sting appearing through the wall of the cell 

 every time an egg is laid. Directly she has finished 

 laying, she turns round again, and, with her jaws, 

 busily closes in the edge of the cup, and so seals 

 it with a round and smooth covering of wax, a 

 proceeding that occupies only a few seconds. 



Each batch of eggs swells into a wax-covered 

 bunch of larvae, and finally becomes a cluster of 

 cocoons. These clusters of cocoons lack the peculiar 

 shape of the first cluster; not only is there no 

 groove across the middle, but the cocoons in the 

 centre are considerably higher than those at the 

 sides, also the cocoons are less closely huddled 

 together and the wax is more completely cleared 



