VI 



A HUMBLE-BEE HOUSE 



IOI 



lapidarius nest and inject honey into the cells, or 

 withdraw honey from them, by means of a bulb- 

 syringe, without fear of the workers becoming 

 alarmed and flying out. I could also do this with 

 weak colonies of terrestris, but populous colonies of 

 terrestris threw themselves into a state of angrv 

 tumult as soon as I attempted to lift the glass. 



Fig. 21. Comb of B. terrestris from Sladen's Humble-bee House. 



In populous nests, the bees fastened the sides of 

 the glass to the top of the section with wax. If there 

 was sufficient space they would also cover their comb 

 with a dome of wax which, of course, hid the comb 

 from view for the time being, but in lapidarius nests 

 this wax was easily removed with a pair of forceps. 



The bees generally built their honey -pots in 

 the projecting wings of the sections. This is 

 well shown in the accompanying photograph of a 

 4 in. x 5 in. section from a terrestris nest (Fig. 21). 



