246 HUMBLE-BEES. 



hive. While the heauty and regularity of the latter 

 are such as to excite the admiration of mankind, the 

 nest of the former offers to the eye of the ohserver 

 little else than a confused and clumsy mass, consist- 

 ing, apparently, of mishapen lumps of dirty-coloured 

 wax. Amidst these apparent irregularities, however, 

 we discover a number of egg-shaped hodies of a 

 yellowish colour and of different sizes, some of them 

 heing 6 lines deep and 4 wide, and others 4 lines 

 deep and 2^ wide, placed on end, and closely cement- 

 ed together, the central ones projecting above those 

 which are situated towards the edge of the mass. 

 These ovoidal hodies are cocoons of silk, strong and 

 tenacious in their texture, and coated with wax ; 

 they contain the young brood. Several clusters 

 placed near each other form a kind of cake or comb, 

 the upper surface of which, from the projection of 

 the central cells, is convex, and the under, of course, 

 concave. These combs are placed in tiers, one above 

 another, and supported by pillars of wax at the outer 

 edges. There are also found in the nest masses of 

 wax of a roundish and irregular form, about 1^ inch 

 in diameter and ^ inch deep ; these also are brood 

 cells but of a peculiar kind, for they contain each six 

 or seven larvae lying close together, and bedded on a 

 quantity of farina moistened with honey, evidently 

 deposited there for their nourishment, and to which 

 they can have recourse immediately on being hatched. 

 When this is consumed, the workers, aware, it would 

 seem, of the fact, make an opening in the top of the 

 cells, and give from time to time an additional sup- 



