40 THE HUMBLE BEES 



In New Zealand, when first the red clover was 

 introduced from this country, it was found 

 impossible to fertilize it, and humble bees had 

 to be sent out. Now they are established there 

 its fertilization is carried on quite successfully. 

 The humble bees are divided into two natural 

 groups, the underground species, i.e. those 

 that make a subterranean nest, and the carder 

 bees, as they have been called, which make a 

 nest on the surface of the ground. The former 

 live in much larger communities and are far 

 more aggressive and pugnacious than the latter. 

 They also feed their young, according to Mr. 

 F. W. L. Sladen, of Eipple Court, in a different 

 way. The carder bees " form little pockets 

 or pouches of wax at the side of a wax-covered 

 mass of growing larvae into which the workers 

 drop the pellets of pollen direct from their hind 

 tibiae. The pollen storers, on the contrary, 

 store the newly gathered pollen in waxen cells, 

 made for the purpose, or in old cocoons, specially 

 set apart to receive it, from which it is taken 

 and given to the larvae mixed with honey through 

 the mouths of the nurse-bees as required." As the 

 author remarks, the methods of the underground 



