6 CURIOSITIES OF ENTOMOLOGY. 



parasitic or cuckoo class, which will lead to the notice of still 

 more curious resemblances that exist between bees and cer- 

 tain insects belonging to the distinct order Diptera. These 

 last, though only furnished with two wings, while the bees 

 'and the whole order (Hymenoptera) to which they belong 

 have four, yet bear such a striking resemblance to the bees, 

 in company with which they are found, that an untrained 

 observer would not, certainly at a first glance, perceive the 

 difference that really exists. 



One of the most remarkable features in those species of 

 bees which live in societies, as is well known in the case of 

 the common hive-bee, is the existence of a third sex, the 

 neuter or worker ; and there are other singular peculiarities 

 of this sort in less known species, such as the existence of two 

 distinct kinds of females. 



The material of which the egg-cells are composed is very 

 various in the different species. The comb of the hive-bee, as 

 is well known, is made of wax, secreted in a peculiar manner;* 

 but other species, though forming a comb almost identical in 

 appearance, make it by the manipulation of certain substances 

 which they reduce to a material resembling common paper ; 

 while others form cells of sand, moistened with a glutinous 

 secretion, which reduces it to a kind of tenacious cement. 



Some of these species, again, collect an inferior kind of 

 honey, while others only collect pollen, of which they place a 

 small mass or ball in each cell in which an egg is to be depo- 

 sited, so as to furnish a supply of food for the grub or larva 

 to subsist on till full grown. This substance is collected solely 

 to form food for the larvae. The exact quantity sufficient is 

 prepared by the instinct of the parent ; and, in fact, when 

 that is consumed, the young grub bee is compelled to subside 

 at once into the torpor during which his change of organisa- 

 tion is to take place, as he has no powers of locomotion, being 



* For a description of the process, and for all general information 

 respecting the habits and management of the common hive-bee, 

 see "The Beekeeper's Manual," by Henry Taylor. Price 4s. 

 (Jroombridge & Sons, 5, Paternoster Row, London. 



