100 PUTNAM, NOTES ON THE 



of the house mice, as in one instance a colony was found 

 under the flooring of a shed, in a nest made of bits of 

 paper, rags, &c. This was the largest community collected, 

 consisting of about seventy adult bees, one hundred and 

 fifty cells containing young, and two hundred young larva?, 

 in various stages of growth, in the pollen masses, besides 

 fifty cells filled with honey. This nest was found on the 

 23d of July. July 28th a nest was discovered in which 

 there was a single queen bee and five or six large queen 

 cells still soft and recently finished. 



July 8th. Two queens were seen fighting upon the 

 outside of a nest. So firmly were they united that they 

 did not part until placed in alcohol, although pushed about 

 for some time. They were both of the same species, but 

 one might have been an invader, as I have found upon 

 placing a strange queen, in a nest, that the rightful sover- 

 eign immediately commenced battle and in a short time 

 expelled the intruder. 



One community kept under glass on a window, with 

 free ingress and egress, continued working, until, on a 

 very hot day, the young became baked in their cells, by 

 the heat of the sun. Then the old ones left and did not 

 return. 



Aug. 6th. A nest was brought home and the cells, con- 

 taining young, placed apart from all old bees for the 

 purpose of ascertaining if the young bee cuts its own way 

 out of its cell. The cells were all of large size. In about 

 half an hour a queen bee had come out and was seen 

 walking over the other cells. She was immediately re- 

 moved and the other cells were examined, but no signs of 

 their having been cut could be seen. In the evening a 

 slit was noticed in one of the cells and the young bee was 

 seen at work cutting with its jaws. In a short time 

 it made an opening in the cell large enough for it to push 

 its head through. It then commenced cutting on each 

 side, from the slit, above and below ; now and then with- 

 drawing its head and resting. Then it tried to force its way 

 through the opening, but finding this was not large enough 

 it cut a little more. The bee evidently did not wish to 

 work more than was necessary, for it often tried to force 

 its way out. At each attempt it made but a small enlarge- 



