LIFE-HISTORY OF BOMBUS 49 



H offer relates how his scepticism about the 

 existence of the so-called trumpeter was suddenly 

 dispelled by his discovering it at 3.30 a.m. in a very 

 populous nest of B. ruderatus, variety argillaceus, 

 he had set up in his window facing south-east. 

 Morning after morning the trumpeter arose about 

 this time and continued to hum for about an hour. 

 He roused his wife and children, and they, too, saw 

 and heard the trumpeter. 



After the queen has laid altogether from 200 to 

 400 eggs that will develop into workers, the number 

 depending upon the species and the vigour of the 

 queen, she begins to lay others that are destined to 

 produce males and queens. 



It is almost impossible to distinguish the male 

 brood from the worker brood, but the full-grown 

 queen larvae and the queen cocoons may be known 

 by their larger size. Sometimes the cocoons in each 

 cluster contain males only or queens only, but often 

 the two sexes are mixed. As a rule, the earlier 

 batches produce chiefly or only males, and the later 

 ones chiefly or only queens. In some nests, how- 

 ever, all the eggs are female, not a single male being 

 produced. This happened in a strong colony of B. 

 pratorum that I kept under observation until it died 

 out. In other cases males only may be produced, 



her Dominions. I saw her Majesty drop down behind a little Eminence, and, 

 after having languish'd a short Time, she expired. The whole City was incon- 

 solable on the Occasion. The Drum did not beat the Signal that Morning as 

 usual. A heavy Melancholy sat on every Brow. The number of the Inhabi- 

 tants since that time has daily diminished, and they are continually removing in 

 Quest of a new Settlement." 



E 



