54 THE HUMBLE-BEE 



ii 



hand, are not nearly so populous, but I have taken 

 nests of each of the species containing over ioo 

 workers. Many colonies, however, fail to grow 

 large through parasites, bad weather, and various 

 other misfortunes ; thus in some nests of the prolific 

 underground species the population never exceeds 

 ioo, and in some nests of the carder-bees it never 

 exceeds 50. 



When most of the young queens have emerged 

 the number of workers diminishes rapidly, and is 

 soon reduced to a few dozen of the youngest and 

 strongest. These drop off one by one. Flowers 

 grow scarce, the workers become idle and listless, 

 and the store of honey that only two or three weeks 

 previously filled so many cells is quickly consumed. 

 The comb grows mouldy, and the old queen dies. 

 And so decay and death overtake the once busy 

 community. 



In the case of B. pratortun, and probably of the 

 other species whose colonies end their existence in 

 the height of summer, the aged queen often spends 

 the evening of her life very pleasantly with her little 

 band of worn-out workers. They sit together on 

 two or three cells on the top of the ruined edifice, 

 and make no attempt to rear any more brood. The 

 exhausting work of bearing done, the queen's body 

 shrinks to its original size, and she becomes quite 

 active and youthful-looking again. This well-earned 

 rest lasts for about a week, and death, when at last 

 it comes, brings with it no discomfort. One night, 

 a little cooler than usual, finding her food supply 



