UN- 



BEES ; HUMBLE-BEES. 



pollen paste for the nutrition of the larvae. Some species, such 

 as those of the genera Nomada, Melecta, and Ccelioxys, do not 

 trouble themselves with the construction- of a nest, but introduce 

 their eggs into the cells of other species of Bees. 



FIG. 490. XYLOCOPA, OR CARPENTER BEE ; AND NEST. 



765. Of the Social Bees, or APID^E, there are two principal 

 groups ; the first consisting of the Humble- Bees or Wild-Bees ; 

 and the second of the Hive-Bees. The Bombi, or Humble-Bees, of 



which there are many 

 species in this coun- 

 try, live in curious 

 habitations, which 

 are sometimes exca- 

 vated at a consider- 

 able depth in the 

 ground, and some- 

 times built upon 

 its surface, beneath 

 stones, &c. The so- 

 cieties consist, in 

 FIG. 491 -BOMBUS. some species, of about 



fifty or sixty indivi- 

 duals ; in others of an many as 200 or 300. They contain three 



