THE HOUSEKEEPING OF THE HUMBLE-BEE 



807 



scrapes away the wax by which the 

 cocoons arc covered. This makes it 

 easy for the mature Bee to escape from 

 the cocoon when its metamorphosis is 

 complete. 



The lower photograph on p. 808, which 

 is considerably magnified, will give an idea 

 of the appearance of the Humble-Bee's 

 egg, and of the grub (or baby Bee) during 

 several of the earlier stages of its existence. 

 The upper photograph (proportionately 

 enlarged) shows us the dorsal \new of the 

 Humble-Bee pupa. One is able to cis- 

 tinguish the larger divisions of the body — 

 head, thorax, and abdomen ; also to 

 note that the wing rudiments are folded 

 at the sides, towards the ventral aspect 

 of the pupa, just as is the case with a 

 butterfly chrysahs. Later on, when the 

 mature Bee rubs off the thin pupal skin 

 which enshrouds it, the wings will expand, 

 harden, and assume their dorsal position. 



In favourable circumstances the de- 

 velopment of a Humble - Bee, from egg 

 to perfect insect, occupies from three to 

 four weeks, so that about a month from 

 the commencement of her labours the 

 queen-mother will be surrounded by a 



little band of four or live workers, each 

 ready to bear its part in the labours of 

 the day. As week after week passes, 

 these workers increase in numbers. The 

 colony begins to prosper. The queen 

 lays more eggs. The workers go abroad 

 and return laden with pollen and h(jney. 

 Yet a colony of Humble -Bees is never 

 very numerous, even in the height of 

 its prosperity. In the case of a sub- 

 terranean species, the nest may contain 

 from 300 to 400 individuals — an insig- 

 nificant number compared with the 

 population of a Bee hive or even of a 

 \\'asps' nest. 



The social "castes" of the Humble- 

 Bce are far more complicated than is the 

 case among more highly civilised Bees. 

 Normall3% the inmates of a hive consist 

 of a queen (or egg-laying female), drones 

 and workers, or imperfectly developed 

 females. But among Humble -Bees the 

 fertile females, or queens, are not rigidly 

 distinguished from the workers. The 

 Bees which are hatched from the first- 

 made cells consist largely, if not entirely, 

 of the worker class. But when a colony 

 has become established, numerous small 



COMB OF COCOONS (ABOUT NATURAL SIZE). 



The empty cocoons from which younft Bees have emerSed are used as honey pots. The snail shell was 



built casually into the nest 



