INSECTS. 



built in the sand or gravel. Those of other species are 

 attached to various objects (Fig. 178). The sand, wood, 

 and paper wasps are' other familiar forms. 



NOTE. The wasps live in temporary societies composed of males, 

 females, and neuters or workers. The sting of the latter is poisonous. 

 The males die at the approach of winter, the females hibernating. In 

 spring their nests, composed of ground vegetable matter or sand, are 

 formed, and the young reared. The first brood are neuters, and assist 

 in building a nest for the others ; finally, in the autumn, a third genera- 

 tion is produced, composed of males and females, the nest now contain- 

 ing perhaps one hundred cells. 



Carpenter-Bees. Among the bees, which constitute 

 the highest forms of the Hymenoptera, the carpenter-bees 

 (Xylocopa) are the giants. They bore tunnels in solid wood 

 at the rate of one quarter 

 to one half an inch a day. 

 In the Virginia carpen- 

 ter-bee the entrance is at 

 first against, then follows 

 the grain of the wood, the 

 tunnel often being from 

 one to one and a half feet 

 in length. This is divided 

 off into cells (Fig. 179), 

 each provided with its 

 pollen and egg ; the par- 

 titions in the tunnel being 

 formed of the powdered 

 dust formed in cutting 

 the tunnel. The larvae 



feed upon the pollen. 



Honey-BeeS (Apia- 



rice). These insects (Fig. 



1 80) are of three kinds queens, workers, and males. 



They live in communities of sometimes 20,000 individuals, 



The cells are formed of wax secreted by the workers, and 

 ii 



FIG. 179. Carpenter-bee, showing 

 eggs, pollen-heaps, and partitions. 



