192 THE HUMBLE-BEE 



VIII 



surface of the ground, but I have often found it 

 under the ground with a short tunnel. The queens 

 appear rather late in the spring, and the colonies 

 are generally among the last to break up in the 

 autumn, the workers being particularly industrious 

 on the August flowers. The wax is almost as light- 

 coloured as that of lapidarius ; it is produced rather 

 sparingly, and is worked into thin sheets. The 

 nest has as clean and tidy an appearance as that of 

 lapidarius. On the Continent there is a variety of 

 sylvarum, named nigrescens, that is coloured exceed- 

 ingly like derhamellns. 



Among the favourite flowers of B. sylvarum may 

 be mentioned red bartsia (B. odontites) and Centatirea 

 nigra. 





