HUMBLE SEES. 365 



that it furnishes an example of the most perfect society that we shall have to notice, and hence the 

 explanations here given will serve to render intelligible the much shorter accounts that we must give 

 of the other social types. But the preceding description is necessarily very imperfect, and hundreds 

 of interesting points have been left altogether untouched. Of the economical importance of the Bee, 

 and of the methods of its cultivation and treatment in various countries, we have been perforce 

 silent. The principal enemies of our Bees are the larva of the Honeycomb Moth (Achroia alvearia), 

 that of a small beetle (Tric/todes apiarius), and the great Death's Head Moth (Acherontia atropos). 

 A small insect known as the Bee Louse (Braula ceca), which belongs to the order Diptera, although 

 it has no wings, lives as a parasite upon the Honey Bee. 



Nearly related to the Hive Bee are numerous wild Bees inhabiting various parts of South 

 America, and forming the genera Melipona and Triyona, those of the latter generally of very small 

 size. Like the Hive Bee these are social in their habits, build their cells with wax (which, 

 however, is said to escape between the dorsal instead of the ventral scales of the abdomen), and store 

 up honey. They generally live in hollow trunks of trees, but also in holes and fissures in the ground, 

 and line their residences with clay and resinous materials. In the use of their wax for the 

 formation of the brood-cells and store-places they are by no means so economical as the Hive Bee. 

 The former are in a single row in each comb, thick-walled, and with rounded bottoms ; the combs are 

 placed horizontally, and the upper ones supported by waxen pillars, and the openings of the cells are 

 turned upwards ; the store-cells are of large size, irregularly ovate, and massive. These insects possess 

 no stings, but bite severely. 



The HUMBLE BEES (Bombus), of which we have some eighteen British species, are too well 

 known as to their general appearance to need any description. Large, heavy insects, flying buzzing 

 along in the summer air, they present a considerable contrast to the much lighter Hive Bee, and 

 in their habits also a similar contrast prevails. The genus is very widely represented, species of it 

 occurring in Europe, Asia, and America ; and, although it appears to belong properly to the northern 

 regions, several species are found in South America. None, however, are known to occur in 

 Austi'alia, New Zealand, or Africa. The individuals vary gi-eatly, especially the males, which renders 

 the determination of the species often a matter of considerable difficulty. 



Like the Hive Bee, the Humble Bees are social, but their societies are not permanent. In fact, 

 they are rather families than societies, for each community springs in the course of a single season 

 from a female which has survived from the previous year. These females are to be found 

 hibernating in moss at the roots of trees, in the hollows of decayed trunks, under stacks, and in other 

 dry and sheltered situations. "With the first genial weather of spring each of these sets to work 

 to prepare a nest and found a new colony. The nests are built either in or on the ground 

 in the former case the foundress Bee often takes advantage of some burrow or other ready-made 

 cavity ; in the latter the nest is usually composed of moss, although other materials, such as dried grass 

 and leaves, are often employed. The nest first made is a very small affair, intended to serve only for 

 rearing a few workers to take part in their mother's labours. The female makes no cells for the 

 reception of her progeny, but brings into the nest a quantity of pollen and honey, which she places in 

 a heap, and then lays some eggs in it. The larvae from these, when hatched, feed freely on the store 

 of food provided for them, and on the further supplies brought in during their growth by their 

 mother. Like the larvae of the Hive Bee they grow very quickly, and in a few days become 

 full grown, and prepare for their change to the pupa state by spinning a silken cocoon, which is so 

 delicate as to be almost transparent. In this they pass their period of repose, and, in emerging from 

 the cocoons, gnaw through one end of them. The empty cocoons, placed side by side with these 

 openings upwaixls, resemble so many little pots, and serve afterwards as vessels to store supplies of 

 food. Later on, besides more workers, some small females, which are supposed to lay only drone-eggs, 

 make their appearance, and, about the same time or later, drones are produced. Then towards 

 autumn large females, similar to the original foundress of the colony, show themselves in the nest, 

 and these, after impregnation, conceal themselves in sheltered places to pass the winter as already 

 described. 



Several species of Humble Bees are very common in Great Britain, and most of these are widely 

 distributed on the continent of Europe. One of the best known is the Bombus terrestris, the large 



