322 DIVISION II. ARTICULATED ANIMALS.—CLASS IV. INSECTA. 
often disposed in several stories. They feed on animal substances, on dead 
insects, ripe and saccharine fruits, fragments of which they cut off with their 
mandibles, and carry to their young. 
\. Crabro.— The Hornet, —a large species, —and V. vulgaris, the 
common Wasp, are too well known to require a special description. 
Bompus. — The Bumble Bee. It is difficult to conjecture how the name 
of this insect came to be corrupted to “ Zumble Bee.” The Bumble Bee 
has a robust body and very hairy, the hairs being often arranged in colored 
bands. 
BL. Lapidarius. —This is the common species of our fields and stone 
walls. It builds its nest under stones, or in piles of stone, constructing it 
of earth and moss, which the insects card with their hind legs. They live in 
societies of fifty or sixty, and sometimes of several hundred. They have a 
sharp and strong sting, notwithstanding which, children often hunt for their 
nests, to rob these poor creatures of their winter store of honey. 
Apis. — The Bee family comprises a great number of species, which were 
all arranged by Linnwus under the single genus Apis. We are obliged to 
pass by several groups, having only space left for a description of the most 
useful and remarkable member of this tribe. 
A. Mellifica. —The Common Hive Bee. We are indebted to Huber for 
a great number of most interesting facts hitherto not noticed, and Cuvier, 
Réaumur, and De Geer have added many important particulars to the natural 
history of this insect. It was well known to the ancients, and its praise is 
celebrated in the poetry of all nations. Virgil elegantly describes its habits 
as far as they were known at his time. 
Three sorts of individuals form a community of Honey Bees, viz., the 
female, mother, or queen; the males, or drones ; and the working bees, erro- 
neously called newters, as they are really females, although with imperfect 
organs. <A hive consists generally of one queen, about eight hundred males, 
and twenty thousand working bees. The last are the smallest, having 
twelve joints to their antenne, and six abdominal rings. They are armed 
with stings. The mandibles are spoon-shaped and indentated. There is on 
the outside of the hind legs a smooth hollow, edged with hairs, denominated 
the basket. The queen is of a larger size, especially in the abdomen; she 
has a shorter sucker, and the mandibles grooved and velvet-like beneath the 
tip. The males, or drones, differ from both the preceding by having thirteen 
joints to the antennzx, a rounded head, with larger eyes, and shorter anterior 
feet, the two first of which are arched. 
The wax, of which the combs are formed, is elaborated from honey. The 
pollen collected from flowers, mixed with a small quantity of wax, consti- 
tutes the food of bees and their larve ; and this food appears to be modified 
