OUTLINES OF ENTOMOLOGY. 33 



The period of development, from tlie laying of the egg until the cap- 

 ping of the cells by the workers, when the larvae are full grown, is said 

 is said to be eight days. During this time they are regularly fed and 

 attended by the younger workers, on which devolves the office of nurses. 

 After the cell is covered the larva spins around itself a very delicate 

 cocoon of silk, within which it transforms to pupa. The latter has all 

 the members and the form of the mature insect, but all in a very soft 

 state and closely appressed to the body. After a repose of about three 

 weeks the young bees emerge, but remain in the hive for a few days, 

 until the wings and other members are sufficiently hardened to be ready 

 for duty. The hive bee is not torpid during winter, although many of 

 its activities are suspended. It appropriates large quantities of honey 

 and generates heat in proportion to the degree of atmospheric cold. 

 On the other hand, in every hot weather in summer, the bees, by the 

 vibrations of their wings, are able to cool and ventilate their hives. 



Next in popular interest to the Honey bee, although they do not 

 contribute directly to our luxuries, are the large, clumsy, noisy Hum- 

 ble bees. They are the largest insects in their tribe. In color they 

 are black or black banded with yellow, and the entire body is densely 

 covered with short, stiff hair. The wings, instead of being transparent, 

 are of a purplish or smoky hue. The tongue and maxillae are longer 

 than those of the Honey bee, but constructed on the same plan, and 

 the added length enables these insects to extract the nectar from and 

 thus be the means of cross-fertilizing many flowers among them the 

 red clover in which the sweets are inaccessible to the former species. 

 The jaws are broad and strong, adapted for digging in the earth. The 

 nests of the largest species, Bombus pennsylvanicus, De Geer, are usu- 

 ally, if not invariably, made underground, sometimes in little caves 

 made for the purpose, but often in the deserted burrows of field mice 

 or similar cavities for the sake of economizing labor. Only the queens 

 or fertile females live over winter, and in the spring each one of these 

 founds a separate colony. Her mode of procedure is as follows : 

 After she has selected and prepared her home, she gathers a quantity 

 of pollen and honey, which she kneads into a mass, and upon which she 

 deposits a number of eggs. From these the larvae hatch in a few days 

 and eat their way into the ball of bee-bread in different directions, 

 growing, meantime, very rapidly. The rude cells thus formed are from 

 time to time strengthened and extended with wax by the mother bee, 

 until the larvae are sealed up for transformation. The first brood are 

 all workers, and as they mature the queen relinquishes her outside 

 labors to them, and devotes herself exclusively to increasing the num- 

 bers of the colony. About the middle of the season drone and queen 



