366 THE INSECT WORLD. 



their eggs in the nests of the humble bee. They are, indeed, so 

 like their hosts, that they can introduce themselves into their 

 dwellings without raising any suspicion. The humble bees admit 

 them freely, and receive them as if they belonged to the family ; 

 so much so, indeed, that the poor humble bees themselves bring up 

 the larvae of these impudent guests. In the Order Hymenoptera, 

 one meets with many examples of these sorts of parasites which 

 install their progeny in the nest of another insect, as- the cuckoo 

 does in the nests of other birds. 



SOLITARY BEES. 



We have up till now found the insects of the great family of 

 bees collected together in perfectly organized societies. But there 

 are a great number of species of this family which live alone. 

 We will briefly mention the most interesting of them. 



The females of the solitary bees are impregnated like those of 

 the humble bees, at the end of September, and lay in spring, after 

 having passed the winter asleep. They build a nest divided into 

 cells, fill it with eggs, and with a honied paste shut it up and 

 die, without having seen their progeny hatched. 



The Anthophvras (Figs. 336, 337, 338) resemble bees, but they 

 are more hairy, and of greyish colour. Their nest, composed of 



Figs. 336, 337, 338. Anthophora parietina. 



earth tempered and agglutinated with their saliva, is made in the 

 cracks of old walls or in the ground. It has the form of a twisted 

 tube, and is divided, by partitions, into compartments, each of 

 which is to receive a larva. Each insect, when hatched, pierces its 

 own wall, and profits by the hole of exit of the brother which pre- 

 ceded it. 



These insects do not live together in societies. Indifferent 

 neighbours, they do not lend each other mutual assistance. They 



