LIFE-HISTORY OF BOMBUS 53 



worker and male of B. agrorum in copulation, there 

 is ample evidence to show that the laying workers 

 are virgins, and this explains why they produce 

 males only, the parthenogenetic production of the 

 drone being a well-known phenomenon in the case 

 of the honey-bee. 



The eggs of the workers are as large as those of 

 the queen ; even the tiny workers lay full-sized eggs, 

 although they cannot develop more than one or 

 two at a time. Several workers will lay their eggs 

 in the same cell, and while they are ovipositing there 

 is a great deal of rivalry and quarrelling between 

 them. But unless the queen is unprolific, or dies 

 early, the workers produce very few offspring, indeed 

 in many nests they produce none. 



The store of honey in the cocoons is generally at 

 its greatest soon after the young queens begin to 

 emerge. In a favourable season a populous colony 

 may have all the vacated cocoons, amounting to over 

 400, filled with thick honey and sealed over with 

 wax. 



The largest colonies are made by lapidarius, 

 terrestris, and luconim. On July 24, 1894, I took 

 a nest of lapidarius containing 245 workers. On 

 July 14, 191 1, I took a terrestris nest with 221 

 workers. In both these nests workers were still 

 emerging from their cocoons, and the oldest workers 

 had died. I have also taken very strong nests of 

 lucorum, and I think that the number of workers in 

 a nest of any of these species must sometimes reach 

 -,00. The colonies of the carder-bees, on the other 



