74 



THE HUMBLE-BEE 



IV 



will completely destroy a large comb in a few days, 

 riddling it with their silk-lined tunnels and reducing 

 it to an impenetrable, sponge-like mass of web and 

 debris. Upon this lump the humble-bees, deprived 

 of all their cells and brood, sit listlessly, unable to 

 help themselves. The caterpillars, when they are 

 full fed, creep out of the nest in a body and spin 

 their long tough cocoons, laying them side by side 

 in a bunch. The cocoons form a dirty white ball 



Fig. 15. 1, Caterpillar of Afhomia sociella ; 2, Larva of Brachycoma devia ; 

 za, Puparium of ditto ; 3, 3, Larvas of Volucella bombylans ; 4, Larva of 

 Fannia. All natural size. 



which might easily be mistaken for a lump of rubbish. 

 Here the caterpillars pass the winter, changing to 

 pupae in May. The moths, which emerge in June, 

 are dingy white, with brown markings and with the 

 anterior wings tinged in front with green, which 

 soon rubs off. B. dcrhamellus, one of the surface- 

 dwelling species that generally makes its nest earlier 

 than the others, is very apt to fall a prey to wax- 

 moth caterpillars. I have also found them in the 

 nests of B. terrestris, B. hortorum, and other under- 

 ground dwellers, but I have never seen them in 



