52 THE HUMBLE BEE. 



that bees do pierce the corollas of some flowers 

 to obtain their honey. Doctor J. L. Drummond, 

 the talented author of " First Steps to Botany," and 

 President of our Natural History Society, tells me 

 that he has repeatedly seen them piercing the com- 

 mon Comfrey (Symphytum officinale) for this purj>ose ; 

 and Mr. Wyndman, another of my fellow members, 

 and one who has paid considerable attention to 

 Entomology, had the pleasure of seeing one of our 

 wild bees fBombus muscorumj busily engaged last 



b 



a, Mandible of the male, and b, of the female, llumble Bee. 



summer, in the Botanic Garden here, piercing the 

 bell- shaped corollas of the Irish heath (Menziesia 

 polifoliaj, and on examining the plants, found, to 

 his great surprise, there was scarcely a blossom of 

 the heath which had not thus been perforated. 



The passages in which the working bees are men- 

 tioned by Shakspeare are so numerous, that I prefer 



