268 INSECTA, 
increased growth of the larve causes them to be too much confined: 
We also find in these nests three or four small bodies composed of 
brown wax, or the same matter as the patée, and shaped like tum- 
blers or almost cylindrical pots, always open, and more or less filled 
with good honey. These reservoirs of the honey are not always 
placed in the same situation. It has been asserted that the labourers 
employed the empty cocoons for a similar use, but this I doubt, as 
they are of a silken material and perforated inferiorly. 
The lary are hatched in four or five days after the eggs have 
been laid, and complete their metamorphosis in the months of June 
and July. The labourers remove the wax that clogs their cocoon, to 
facilitate their issue. It was formerly supposed that they produced 
labourers only, but we have already seen that some males are among 
them, whose functions have been indicated. These labourers assist 
the female in her work. The number of cells which serve as habi- 
tations to the larvee and nymphs increases, and they form irregular 
combs placed in stories, on the edges of which we particularly observe 
the brown patée of Reaumur. According to Huber, the labourers 
are extremely fond of the ova of the female, and sometimes, in her 
absence, even break open the cells in which they are deposited, in 
order to suck the milky fluid they contain! a most extraordinary fact, 
which seems to belie the known attachment of the labourers for the 
germs of that race of which they are the protectors and guardians. 
The wax produced by them, according to this same naturalist, has the 
same origin as that of our domestic Bee, or is merely elaborated 
honey that also transudes through the intervals of some of the abdo- 
minal annuli. Several females live amicably together under one 
roof and exhibit no symptoms of aversion for each other, They 
copulate abroad, either in the air or on plants, where I have seen 
them thus united. The females are much less prolific than those of 
our domestic Bee. 
The following species are common in the environs of Paris. 
B.muscorum; Apis muscorum, L.; Reaum., Insect., VI, ii, 1, 
2, 3, yellowish; hairs of the thorax fulyous. The same colours 
in all the individuals. 
B. lapidarius; Apis lapidaria, L.; Reaum., Ibid., 1,i, 4. The 
female is black, with reddish anus and colourless wings. The 
male—Bombus arbustorum, Fab.-—has the front of the head 
and the two extremities of the thorax yellow. The anus is red, 
asin the female. This species make its nest under piles of 
stones. 
B. terrestris; Apis terrestris, L.; B. souterain,'Reaum., 
Ibid., I1J,i. Black; posterior extremity of the thorax and base 
of the abdomen yellow ; anus white *. 
Sometimes the social Apiarize have no spines at the extremity of 
their posterior tibiz. 
* For the other species, see the Memoir of M. Huber, Lin. Trans., VI; Jurine 
on the Hymenoptera, genus Breme, and Panzer on the same order of Insects. With 
respeet to their male organs of generation, see the Memoir of Lachat and Audouin, 
