502 THE HIVE BEE 



insects to establish themselves in an outhouse, and to cause great annoyance before they 

 could be expelled. 



A very pretty nest is also found in this country, the work of the Vespa Britannica. It 

 is suspended to branches, is nearly globular in shape, and extremely variable in si^e, some 

 specimens being nearly a foot in diameter, while others are comparatively small. A very 

 pretty specimen in my possession is about the size of a tennis ball. Some exotic species 

 make nests, the covering or outer case whereof is thick and tough as pasteboard, and 

 nearly white in colour. One of these nests, which is found in the Brazils, is popularly 

 called the Dutchman's pipe, its shape somewhat resembling an exaggerated pipe-bowl, the 

 aperture for ingress and egress doing duty for the mouth, and the branch on which it is 

 suspended taking the place of the stem. I believe that the insect which forms this 

 curious structure belongs to the genus Chartergus. The central orifice penetrates through 

 all the layers of combs. 



The left-hand figure on the engraving at page 498 represents a fine insect, a native of 

 Brazil, belonging to the Bembecidse. Of this family we have no British examples. This 

 species is in the habit of catching grasshoppers of considerable size, carrying them off, and 

 stocking with these insects the habitation made for its young. A very fine species of 

 Chrysis is parasitic upon it. 



THEKE are, perhaps, few insects so important to mankind as those which procure the 

 sweet substance so well known by the name of honey. Nearly all the honey-making 

 Hymenoptera are furnished with stings, and in many species the poison is fearfully 

 intense. Some of these insects, such as the HIVE BEE, make waxen cells of mathematical 

 accuracy, the larvae being placed in separate cells, and fed by the neuters. In some cases, 

 such as the common HUMBLE BEE, the cells are egg-shaped, each cell being either occupied 

 by a larva, or filled with honey ; while in some species the eggs are placed parasitically 

 in the nests of other bees, so that the larvae feed either upon the stores of food gathered 

 for the involuntary host, or upon the body of the deluded insect itself. 



The Hive Bee is the typical example of the honey-gatherers, but its general economy 

 is too well known to need much description. Suffice it to say, that, as in the ants, the 

 community consists of males, females, and neuters, but that in the Bees, all the members 

 of the establishment are winged, and the wings are permanent. In each hive there is one 

 fully-developed female, called the queen, several others in process of development, and 

 intended to be the heads of future establishments, a limited number of males, and a 

 vast band of neuters, i. e. undeveloped females. The males have no sting, but both the 

 females and neuters are armed with this tiny, but formidable weapon. Since in civilized 

 countries the Hive Bees are kept in habitations of limited size, their numbers soon 

 outgrow their home, and a large number accordingly quit the hive under the government 

 of the old queen, the rule of the hive being taken up with one of the young queens which 

 has burst from its cell in the meanwhile. A fresh colony is founded as soon as the Bees 

 can meet with shelter, and their new residence is speedily filled with honey and young. 

 The cells of the Bee-comb are set back to back, and each comb hangs like a thick curtain 

 from the top and sides of the hive, so that the cells lie nearly horizontally. 



In gathering honey, the Bees lick the sweet juices from flowers, swallow them, and 

 store them for the time in a membranous cup, popularly called the honey-bag. When this 

 cup is filled, the Bee returns to the hive, and discharges the honey into cells, closing its 

 mouth with wax when it is filled. The structure of the Bee-cell, its marvellous adaptation 

 to the several purposes for which it is intended, its mathematic accuracy of construction, 

 whereby the best amount of material is found to afford the greatest amount of space and 

 strength, are subjects too complicated to be here described, but may be found in many 

 works which have been written upon the Hive Bee. 



THE members of the genus NOMADA, a specimen of which may be seen in the right- 

 hand upper corner of the engraving on page 463, are very wasp-like in their general 

 aspect, are not hairy, and are, indeed, often taken for small wasps by inexperienced 

 observers. They are, however, true bees. Their habits are rather obscure, but they are 

 thought to be parasitic insects. 



