THE CARDING BEE. 



Males Fenmles Neuters Larvae. 



between the cells are filled with masses of brown 

 paste, made of gross wax, or pollen much. 

 wrought, and honey. Besides the masses they 

 Attach to every comb, particularly the upper- 

 most, three or four cells of the same coarse wax, 

 in the shape of goblets, open at the top, which, 

 they fill with liquid and very sweet honey. The 

 rst step towards furnishing a nest is to make a 

 mass of the brown paste, and one of these honey- 

 pots. The masses of paste are intended for the 

 food of the larvae, and in them the eggs are de* 

 posited. These vary in number, from three to 

 thirty being to be found in one mass, but not all 

 in the same cavity. The nests seldom contain 

 more than fifty or sixty inhabitants. Of these 

 the females (of which there is more than one in 

 a nest) are the largest. The males are of a mid- 

 dle size, as is also one description of working- 

 bees or neuters : the other neuters are the small- 

 est, and not bigger than the hive bee. These 

 two sorts of neuters, it is most probable, are ap- 

 propriated to different kinds of works; the largest 

 being the strongest, and the others the most 

 lively, active, and expert. In this community, 

 both the females and males act in concert with 

 the neuters in fitting up or repairing their habi- 

 tations. The nests of the carding-bees are ex- 

 posed to various depredators ; but field-mice and 

 pole-cats are their most formidable enemies. 



The larvae are similar to those of the hive 

 bee, but their sides are marked by irregular 



