HUMBLE-BEES 



245 



on the second ring of the abdomen. The garden humble-bee (B. hortorum) is just 

 as large and of the same colour, but the first ring of the abdomen and not the 

 Second is yellow, as is also the hind part of the breast. The moss humble-bee (B. 

 rrmscorum) is red on the breast and at the base of the abdomen; the abdomen 

 itself being light yellow, the rest of the body black. The male of the stone humble- 

 bee (B. lapidarius), on the other hand, is yellow on the head, breast, and thorax, 

 and has a red hinder part. 



The parasitic humble-bees (Psithyrince), which have no workers, and are 





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s>m \ • • 



HUMBLE-BEES AT WORK. 



without baskets and hooks on their hind-legs, do not make nests for themselves 

 but deposit their eggs in those of other humble-bees. In the species known as 

 Psithyrus rupestris there is a great difference between the males and females. 

 The female is black, with the end of her abdomen marked with red in the same way 

 as the females of the stone humble-bee, though she has blackish brown wings, and 

 is double their size ; while the male is covered with grey hairs on the black breast 

 and has the four last rings of the abdomen red, with the edges of the two first grey 

 on each side. 



