284 HOUSE, GARDEN, AND FIELD 



February or March, and contain comparatively few larvae. 

 A few weeks later the number of eggs laid in a single cell 

 becomes greater. The food-supply is then less adequate, 

 and this may be one reason why the bees hatched in the 

 height of summer are of smaller size. It has been said 

 that the cells of late summer never contain any food, and 

 that the grubs which they contain are fed exclusively from 

 mouth to mouth. In autumn special provision is made for 

 the perpetuation of the race. New queens and a great 

 many drones are hatched out. Egg-laying has by this time 

 ceased altogether, and the rearing of new generations no 

 longer employs the workers, which remain idle in the nest, 

 seldom going out even to procure honey. The community 

 does not long survive the close of the fine season. The 

 nest, which is then devoid of food and brood, is deserted, 

 and a few fertile queens, scattered about in holes in the 

 ground, are the only humble-bees which hibernate. 



It has been found that the economy of the humble-bee 

 is materially affected by climate. In the short summer 

 of the arctic circle they are said to produce no workers. 

 The nests are very small, and we might almost say that 

 the social state has been lost, the bees having returned 

 to the solitary condition. On the other hand, in Mediter- 

 ranean countries the humble-bees often survive the winter 

 in considerable numbers, and the nests appear to be 

 tending to a permanent state, such as is more fully attained 

 in the hive-bee. 



It was long ago stated by the old naturalist Godard that 

 in the early morning a sound is heard to issue from the 

 nest of a humble-bee, which he supposed to be a call, 

 rousing the inmates of the nest to work. This statement, 

 after having been long regarded as a fable, has recently 

 been confirmed by several observers. It is found that 

 the humming noise is due to the rapid vibration of the 

 wings, and that if the bee told off for this work should 

 be removed, another at once takes its place. The purpose 

 of the sound can only be guessed at. 



