84 STRANGE DWELLINGS. 



her way under a thick tuft of herbage, and remain quietly in 

 the retired nook until she fancies that the danger has passed 

 away. 



When, however, she has suited herself with a locality, she 

 scrapes away the ground quickly, and when she has dug to a 

 sufficient depth, she scoops out a small cavity or chamber, and 

 therein constructs her first nest. There are but few cells at the 

 beginning of the year, and these contain the first workers, who 

 are intended to assist in constructing the enlarged nest. The 

 larvae are large, fat, white, round-bodied creatures, with little 

 horny heads, and their bodies always slightly curved. When 

 they have completed their feeding, each spins for itself an oval 

 cocoon of coarse silk, rather irregular in shape, very soft, tough, 

 and thick in consistency. 



Herein they remain until they have attained their perfect 

 state, when they gnaw a round piece from one end of the 

 cocoon, just as a chicken chips off the top of the ^gg^ and 

 emerge into the nest. They do not venture out into the air for 

 several days, the thick hair with which they are covered being 

 all matted together, their wings soft and crumpled, and their 

 limbs scarcely able to bear them. Two or three days are gene- 

 rally passed in the nest, and not until having gained their full 

 strength do they venture out into the wide world. None but 

 worker bees are developed for the first part of the year, the 

 females and males not making their appearance until the summer 

 weather has set in. 



As may be seen from the illustration, the cells of the Humble 

 Bee are not arranged in regular rows, like those of the hive 

 bee, but ar^ set carelessly side by side, mostly fixed together in 

 groups of greater or lesser dimensions. Now and then a very 

 little group of two or three cells is found, and single cells are 

 occasionally to be seen, detached from the general mass. 



The right-hand nest in the illustration is that of the Red- 

 tipped Humble Bee of Shakspere, known as the Lapidary Bee 

 (Bombus lapidarius)^ which derives its specific name from its 

 habit of making its nest within heaps of stone. This beautiful 



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