BOMBUS, THE HUMBLE-BEE 73 



Other species and these are the so-called " carder 

 bees" construct nests of moss and grass on 

 the ground, but hidden from sight in thick grass 

 or under ground-ivy. 



Having started her home, the first concern 

 of the queen is to orientate herself so that 

 she may find her way back to it, and this 

 she does by a series of trial flights in ever-widen- 

 ing circles. Now she begins to collect both 

 pollen and honey, and mixing the two, constructs 

 in the centre of the nest a stumpy pillar of this 

 pollen paste, on which she moulds a circular wall 

 of wax. In this rough cell she lays her first 

 batch of eggs, usually about a dozen, and seals 

 this common chamber by wax manipulated with 

 her jaws. The eggs are large, much larger than 

 those of Apis, 2-5 mm. to 4 mm. in length, elon- 

 gated, like sausages. Over them the queen broods, 

 and, except to gather food, does not leave them 

 night or day. Provision must, however, be made 

 for a " rainy day/' and to this end she prepares 

 a waxen spherical honey-pot of considerable size, 

 perhaps three-quarters of an inch in diameter 

 a fragile affair of thin and soft wax, but water- 

 tight and capable of lasting some weeks. Set 

 in or near the entrance of the nest, it affords a 



