298 THE BRITISH NATURE BOOK 



builds its nest in moss or grass, on the surface of the ground ; frequently in 

 a bank or a hedgerow. I have often found them on the side of graves in a 

 churchyard. The queens, which hibernate through the cold weather, may be 

 seen in early spring seeking for a site for the nest. When found, the queen 

 collects a quantity of dried moss and fragments of grass, in which she deposits a 

 mass of pollen and honey ; on this she lays a few eggs, covering them with more 

 pollen, on which the larvae feed till full grown. They then spin cocoons, from 

 which they duly emerge as perfect insects, though not at first able to do active 

 work. As soon, however, as they are mature, they (being " worker-bees ") 

 undertake the duty of maintaining the small community, the queen restricting 

 herself to the duty of laying eggs. Later on, drones are hatched, and the last 

 brood of all each season consists of females, which after hibernating become the 

 mothers of the next season's nests. These nests may be kept under observa- 

 tion in small glass cases, or indeed any kind of receptacle, provided it is placed 

 on the ground in suitable surroundings. I have several times conducted the 

 experiment with success. It will be noticed that the cells built are oval in 

 shape. Some are left open, and appear to serve as store cells for honey. Be- 

 tween fifty and a hundred eggs a comparatively small number are laid by 

 each queen, each laid in a brand-new cell, and not in any previously used. 

 The drones on leaving the nest do not return, obtaining their food from the 

 flowers they visit. Humble Bees, it should be remembered, play a most im- 

 portant part in fertilizing plants which other insects cannot approach effectively 

 such as the red clover, white dead-nettle, yellow iris, and especially the 

 foxglove. All Humble Bees have stings (except the drones), but they do not 

 use them so readily as Hive Bees, and generally a nest may be examined or 

 taken with impunity. 



Other Humble Bees (Bombus pratorum, and B. elegans, for example) make 

 similar nests on the surface. The Common Humble Bee (B. terrestris] makes a 

 nest in the ground, often using a mouse hole for the purpose. Others (B. lapi- 

 darius, the Bed-backed Bee, B. subterraneus, and B. virginalis) build in similar 

 situations B. lapidarius, the most courageous of all and therefore the one most 

 likely to sting, gets its name from making its nest in heaps of stones. B. terres- 

 tris is black and yellow-banded, with a tawny tail, and a large nest may contain 

 300 or 400 members in the autumn. The surface-nesting bees' nests contain 

 considerably fewer individuals. 



" Carder " Bees are bees (B. agrorum) which weave grass or moss into a kind 

 of thatch above their nests. I have found them several times in deserted 

 birds' nests, particularly those of the Golden-crested Wren. 



The Hive, or Honey, Bee (Apis mellifica}, consisting of some nine or ten species 

 in all, only two or three of which are known in this country, is so important an 

 insect that it would require a book to itself to do it justice. Only the merest out- 

 line of its story can be given here. There are three kinds in each hive workers, 

 drones, and females. Of the last named, one only is permitted to live in the 

 same hive as queen: her sole duty that of laying eggs between 2,000 and 3,000 



