THE INDUSTRIES OF WILD BEES 281 



with honey) and closed. The grubs which issue from the 

 eggs consume the store of food, and then require to be fed. 

 The mother-bee, or at a later time one of the workers, bites 

 a hole through the waxen wall, and passes food in from 

 her own mouth. The common cell, shared by six or seven 

 larvae, steadily grows till it is as big as a walnut, and 

 Pierre Huber ascertained that the grubs break through 

 the wax from time to time, when the workers clap more 

 wax on the spot and trim it neatly. As soon as the grubs 

 are full-fed they spin egg-shaped cocoons of whitish silk ; 

 the silken threads are often intermingled, so that several 

 cocoons loosely cohere. When they perceive that the 

 cocoons are ready, the workers remove the outer shell 

 of wax. After the short pupal stage is over, and the 

 winged bees have emerged, the cocoons are seen to be 

 truncated, a large, circular hole having been made towards 

 the upper end. The empty cocoons are trimmed, coated 

 with wax, and filled with honey by the workers, to serve 

 as honey-pots. They are deepened, to increase their 

 capacity, by a rim of wax added to the lip of the truncated 

 cocoon ; then the mouth is narrowed, but not sealed. 

 Sometimes waxen honey-pots are made of wax throughout, 

 with no cocoon as a foundation. As many as sixty honey- 

 pots have been counted in one nest ; most of these may 

 be full, but when many larvae are being fed, the store of 

 honey runs low. 



The humble-bees are much better equipped for pollen- 

 collecting than any of the solitary bees. The first joint 

 of the tarsus of the hind leg is dilated, as in a hive-bee, 

 and its inner surface, the one turned towards the body, 

 is closely set with short stiff bristles, which are very useful 

 in combing the pollen from all parts of the body. Just 

 above the tarsus, and on the outer side of the tibia, is a 

 pollen-basket, enclosed on either side by long stiff curved 

 bristles. Captured humble-bees will often be found to 

 have a big lump of yellow pollen stored up in this basket. 

 In one respect only is the collecting apparatus of the 



