502 THE HIVE BEE. 





these 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 size, 

 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 color. 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 Bembecidae. 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. 



THERE 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 mathe- 

 matical 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 parasiticallyinthenestsof 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 mem- 

 bers 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, /. e. undeveloped females. The males have no sting, but both the 

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

 ized 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 govern- 

 ment 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 horizontallv 



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. 



