THE MARVEL OF INSECT LIFE. 

 CHAPTEE I. 



SOLITARY BEES THEIR HABITS AND WORK. 



THE reader must not expect to find in the following 

 pages a description of the Bee and its manage- 

 ment. I shall simply attempt to give an outline 

 history of the various bees all over the world, their 

 haJbits, and the work which they do. Among them the 

 Hive Bee will find its place, but not as a domesticated 

 insect, these pages treating of the natural, and not the 

 artificial life, of the insects which will be mentioned. 



Koughly speaking, we may divide the bees into two 

 great groups, the Solitary and the Social, and will begin 

 with the former. 



Like the generality of insects, the Solitary Bees are 

 either male or female, and only the latter possesses a 



