8o8 



THE NATURE BOOK 



queens are often produced ; and these 

 supplement the efforts of the original 

 queen in egg-laying — as, indeed, do certain 

 of the workers on occasion. Again, the 

 workers vary much in size, and it seems 

 that their avocation is bound u]) with 

 their muscular propor- 

 tions. For observation 

 seems to show that while 

 the larjj;iT workers go 

 much abrt)ad in search 

 of food and nest-build- 

 ing materials, their 

 smaller sisters scarcely 

 ever leave the nest. 

 where they pass their 

 time in feechng and 

 otherwise caring for the 

 grubs. In a word, the 

 population of a Humble- 

 Bee's nest in the height 

 of summer consists of 

 individuals of many 

 sizes, whose callings and 

 occupations d i ft' e r 

 widely. At the approach 

 of autumn, a brood of 

 drones, or males, is j)ro- 

 duced, as well 

 as a number of 

 large queens — 

 the latter being 

 destined to sur- 

 vive the winter 

 and perpetuate 

 the species 

 during the suc- 

 ceeding year. 



The cheery, 

 easy-going 

 nature of the 



Humble -Bee is reflected in the fact that 

 the honey tubs are never sealed v.]^. 

 but are free for all who hunger to take 

 their fill. In good weather a prosperous 

 colony will amass much honey. This, 

 as we have already seen, is stored lor 

 the most part in tlic empty cocoons, 

 some of which are built up or altered for 

 the purpose. But the Bees also make 

 additional honey pots of the pseudo-wa.x 

 (formed from an agglutination of vege- 

 table matter) which they are able to 

 jiroduce. This substance is not wa.x 

 such as the hive Bees make. It is not 

 plastic to the fingers ; while it burns, 



HUMBLE-BEE PUPA— UPPER SIDE 

 (MAGNIFIED). 



ICC m 



THE EGG AND EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF THE 

 HUMBLE-BEE (MAGNIFIED). 



leaving a carbonaceous residuum which 

 readily attracts moisture. 



In the limits of a short article it would 

 ])e impossible to enumerate all the points 

 of interest connected with the life story 

 ol the Humble -Bee. But one or two 

 additional facts may be 

 recorded which seem 

 calculated to inspire in 

 I lie reader a desire to 

 investigate more fully 

 the habits of these in- 

 teresting insects. The 

 "tongue" of the 

 Humble -Bee is of very 

 great length, and be- 

 cause of this the insects 

 are of importance to 

 agriculturists, as they 

 are able to probe the 

 depths of certain flowers 

 from which short- 

 tongued insects (such as 

 the Honey Bee) cannot 

 suck the nectar. For 

 instance, Humble -Bees 

 alone \isit red clover 

 and effect its fertilisa- 

 tion. It has 

 been suggested 

 that certain 

 moths may also 

 fertilise red 

 clo\'er flowers ; 

 but Darwin, 

 who devoted 

 nuich time to 

 the study of 

 this question, 

 exj^ressed the 

 o])ini()n that it 

 seemed doubtful whether the weight 

 of the moth would prove suflicient to 

 depress the wing-petals of the flowers. 

 He added: "We may infer as highly 

 ])robal)le that, if the whole genus of 

 Humble -Bees became e.xtinct or even 

 rare in Fngland, the heartsease (another 

 flower favoured by Humble -Bees) and 

 the red clover would become very rare 

 or would wholly disappear." Strangely 

 enough, this speculaticm has been shown 

 to be something more than a mere 

 scientific pleasantry. In New Zealand, 

 when first the red clover was intro- 

 duced, it was found impossible to fertilise 



