34 OUTLINES OF ENTOMOLOGY. 



cells are built, and upon the emergence of the occupants the two sexes 

 take their marriage flight together, after which, upon the approach of 

 cold weather, the colony disbands, and all except the perfect females 

 soon perish. The latter seek shelter about buildings, in hollows of 

 trees, and possibly some return to the nest and remain dormant through 

 the winter, reviving when spring returns to repeat the annual process 

 of founding new colonies and reproducing the species. 



The Humble bees are far less skillful and exact in their mechani- 

 cal efforts than the Honey bee. The cells are oval instead of hexago- 

 nal, and very irregularly placed, and honey and brood-comb are inter- 

 mixed without much order. The honey is very sweet, but somewhat 

 rank-flavored, and in many persons produces headache, while the wax 

 is dark, coarse-grained and doughy. 



The economy of the Solitary bees, belonging in the family APID^E 

 is quite different from that of the social species. Each pair, or more 

 properly each female, builds and provisions a separate nest, which con- 

 sists of from a half-dozen to a great number of cells. A quantity of 

 food, prepared mainly from pollen, is stored in each cell, in which a 

 single egg is also deposited. The cell is then closed and the mother 

 insect takes no further care for her young. 



The most interesting and conspicuous of the Soliary species are 

 the Carpenter, the Mason, the Upholsterer and the Leaf-cutter bees. 



The Carpenter bees (genus Xylocopa) contain a few species which 

 rival the Humble bee in size, and in many other respects closely re- 

 semble them. They may, however, be distinguished from the latter at 

 a glance by the smooth top of the abdomen, which is entirely of a 

 glossy black. Upon closer examination, the jaws (mandibles) are 

 found to be very powerful and sharply toothed. The basal joint of the 

 hind feet is very long and clothed with long stiff hairs, appearing 

 much like a bottle brush. 



These bees bore holes in solid, but not growing, wood, being often 

 found at work in the cornices of houses and other buildings, in which 

 they make tunnels a foot or more in length. The entrance, for the 

 depth of an inch or more, is cut direct across the grain of the wood, 

 but the tunnel proper is at right angles to this, with the grain of the 

 wood. In this, numerous cells are partitioned off, the walls being 

 built from the chips or raspings, cemented with a sticky fluid from the 

 mouth of the little artisan. Beginning at the end farthest from the 

 entrance, each cell is finished, provided with a quantity of the usual 

 bee food, and the egg laid, before the partition wall is put up. It fol- 

 lows that there is a considerable interval of time between the com- 



