VII 



ATTRACTING QUEENS 



JOS 



Each domicile was prepared by cutting out a 

 rectangular sod with a sharp spade ; the floor of 

 the excavation from which the sod was taken was 

 levelled, and in the centre of it a small round 

 cavity about 4-in. in diameter was made with a 

 trowel. This cavity was to contain the nest. 

 Next, a tunnel i-in. in diameter and about 2 feet 

 long, as a passage for the bees connecting the 

 cavity with the surface of the ground, was made 

 by driving through the ground a steel rod having 



Fig. 22. Section of Sladen's original device to attract underground-nesting 



humble-bees. 



a thickened and pointed, head. The mouth of the 

 tunnel had the grass close around it plucked short 

 so that it might be easily noticed by the searching 

 queens. Most of the nests were made of dead 

 grass like those made in 1895, but some consisted 

 of soft moss torn to pieces and rolled into a ball, 

 and a few were made of tow which, after it had 

 been deodorised by exposure to the weather for a 

 few days, was cut up into lengths of about half-an- 

 inch. The nest having been deposited in the 

 cavity, a tile was placed over it, the sod was put 

 back in its place over the tile, and the edges of the 

 sod were stamped down. 



