ANTS, BEES, WASPS, AND THEIR KINDRED 1 19 



mason-bees build their cells of sand or earth cemented 

 together with their own saliva. The leaf-cutter bees 1 

 use pieces of leaves, which they cut from the living 

 plant. Other species form their cells of wax or other 

 material secreted from their own bodies. One, known 

 as the wool-carder bee, 2 envelops its nest of \vaxen 

 cells in a mass of white down collected from the leaves 

 and stems of certain plants. The cuckoo-bees, of 

 which there are several genera, do not make nests at 

 all, but lay their eggs in the cells of other species, on 

 the fruits of whose industry the cuckoo's grubs fatten. 

 Some of the so-called solitary bees form colonies, many 

 individuals building their nests in close proximity ; 

 but true social communities, comprising workers as 

 well as females, are formed only by the humble-bees 3 

 and the hive-bee. 4 Some species of humble-bees nest 

 in subterranean chambers, others the " carders "- 

 beneath piles of moss, etc., on the surface of the 

 ground. Their communities, like those of social 

 wasps, persist for one season only the perpetuation 

 of the species depending upon fertile females, or queens, 

 which hibernate and found new nests each spring. 

 Hive-bees alone dwell in " abiding cities." 



1 Megachik. * Anthidium manicatum. 



3 Bombus. 4 Apis mellifica. 



