io6 THE HUMBLE-BEE 



VII 



About twenty of these artificial underground 

 domiciles were formed in May in and around my 

 apiary, which is a favourite spot for humble-bees to 

 nest in because the plot, almost an acre in size, is 

 covered with grass that is never grazed, and is sur- 

 rounded by young Austrian pines and other bushy 

 trees, single specimens of which are scattered about. 



An examination of these nests in the middle of 

 June showed that several of them had been occupied 

 by queens who had started breeding in them but 

 had deserted, for they contained mouldy remains of 

 pollen, honey-pots, and in some cases brood. The 

 nests were more or less wet, and the nest cavities 

 were occupied by centipedes, millipedes, slugs, and 

 beetles. Some of the nests were saturated with 

 water, and contained earth-worms and their casts. 

 The cause of the queens deserting was apparently 

 the damp and the vermin. In one of the nests, 

 however, a poor hortorum queen was found dead 

 with her feet entangled in tow, which, evidently, had 

 not been cut short enough. 



The following spring, in April, I put down forty 

 more nests. The domiciles were made like those of 

 the previous year, but I covered some of them with 

 bee-hive roofs in the hope that these would keep 

 them dry an expectation that was not realised. The 

 domiciles were numbered consecutively, the num- 

 ber being painted in black on a white stick, which 

 was afterwards stuck in the sod covering each nest. 

 I found these sticks very useful to mark the spots, 

 which soon became overgrown with grass. 



