THE HUMBLE BEES. 



403 



fresh colony is founded as soon as the Bees can meet with shelter, and their new residence is 

 speedily filled with honey and young. The cells of the Bee-comb are set back to back, and 

 each comb hangs like a thick curtain from the top and sides of the hive, so that the cells lie 

 nearly horizontally. 



In gathering honey, the Bees lick the sweet juices from flowers, swallow them, and store 

 them for the time in a membranous cup, popularly called the honey-bag. When this cup is 

 filled, the Bee returns to the hive, and discharges the honey into cells, closing its mouth with 



HIVE BEE. — Apis mellifica. (a. Queen; b, Laborer; c. Drone; with front of the heads. The latter are magnified, and each belongs to fiernre beneath.) 



wax when it is filled. The structure of the Bee-cell, its marvellous adaptation to the several 

 purposes for which it is intended, its mathematic accuracy of construction, whereby the best 

 amount of material is found to afford the greatest amount of space and strength, are subjects 

 too complicated to be here described, but may be found in many works which have been 

 written upou the Hive Bee. 



The members of the genus Nomada are very wasp-like in their general aspect, are not 

 hairy, and are, indeed, often taken for small wasps by inexperienced observers. They are, 

 however, true bees. Their habits are rather obscure, but they are thought to be parasitic 

 insects. 



The Carpenter Bee of Southern Africa is one of those curious insects which construct 

 a series of cells in wood. After completing their burrow, which is open at each end, they 

 close the bottom with a flooring of agglutinated sawdust, formed of the morsels bitten off 

 during the operation of burrowing, lay an egg upon this floor, insert a quantity of "bee- 

 bread," made of the pollen of flowers and their juices, and then cover the whole with a layer 

 of the same substance that was used for the floor. Upon this is laid another egg, another 

 supply of bee-bread is inserted, and a fresh layer of sawdust superimposed. Each layer is, 

 therefore, the floor of one cell and the ceiling of another ; and the insect makes, on the aver- 

 age, about ten or twelve of these cells. 



The numerous Htjmble Bees are a group of insects readily recognized by their thick, 

 hairy bodies and general shape. Their nests are placed underground, often in banks, and 

 contain a variable number of cells, sometimes not more than twenty in number, and sometimes 

 exceeding two or even three hundred. The cells are loosely connected together, and are of an 

 oval shape, their textiire being tougher and more paper-like than those of the hive bee. In 

 these, as in the ordinary bees, there are the three kinds of inhabitants ; but with the Humble 

 Bees, both the females and neuters take part in the labors of the establishment, while the 

 number of perfect females is comparatively large. 



The honey made by these insects is peculiarly sweet and fragrant, but to many persons, 

 myself included, is rather injurious, always causing a severe headache. Some of the Humble 

 Bees {Bombus muscorum) employ moss in the construction of their nests, and pass it, fibre by 

 fibre, through their legs, in a manner that reminds the observer of carding cotton. They are, 

 on that account, popularly called Carder Bees. Others, again {Bombits- lapidarius), prefer 



