74 Insect Architecture. 



CHAPTER IV. 



CARDER-BEES ; HUMBLE-BEES J SOCIAL-WASPS. 



rPHE bees and wasps, whose ingenious architecture we have 

 already examined, are solitary in their labours. Those 

 we are about to describe live in society. The perfection of 

 the social state among this class of insects is certainly that 

 of the hive-bees. They are the inhabitants of a large city, 

 where the arts are carried to a higher excellence than in 

 small districts enjoying little communication of intelligence. 

 But the bees of the villages, if we may follow up the parallel, 

 are not without their interest. Such are those which are 

 called carder-bees and humble-bees. 



CARDER-BEES. 



The nests of the bees which Reaumur denominates carders 

 (Bombus muscorum, LATR.) are by no means uncommon, and 

 are well worth the study of the naturalist. During the hay 

 harvest, they are frequently met with by mowers in the 

 open fields and meadows ; but they may sometimes be dis- 

 covered in hedge-banks, the borders of copses, or among 

 moss-grown stones. The description of the mode of build- 

 ing adopted by this bee has been copied by most of our 

 writers on insects from Reaumur ; though he is not a little 

 severe on those who write without having ever had a single 

 nest in their possession. We have been able to avoid such a 

 reproach ; for we have now before us a very complete nest 

 of carder -bees, which differs from those described by Reau- 

 mur, in being made not of moss, but withered grass. With 

 this exception, we find that his account agrees accurately 

 with our own observations. (J. R.) 



The carder-bees select for their nest a shallow excava- 



