18 BRITISH BEES. 



fence and offence, and forms a sting, supplied by glands 

 with a very virulent poison, which the bee can inject 

 into the wound it inflicts. It is not certain that this 

 organ is used by the bee as an ovipositor, although it 

 is evident it is its analogue. This brief description of 

 the essential peculiarities of the family will, for the pre- 

 sent, suffice. In the notice of the imago, I shall enlarge 

 upon the general structure, and then particularize those 

 portions of it which may facilitate further progress. 



The Egg. — Although the egg of the parent is the 

 source of the origin of the bee, we cannot abruptly com- 

 mence from this point, for the preliminary labours of 

 the mother are indispensable to the evolution of its off- 

 spring. This egg has to be placed in a suitable deposi- 

 tory, together with the requisite food for the sustenance 

 of the vermicule that will be disclosed from it. 



Instinct instructs the parent where and how to form 

 the nidus for its egg. These depositories differ consi- 

 derably in the several genera, but, as a general rule, 

 they are tubes burrowed by the mother either in earth, 

 sand, decaying or soft wood, branches of plants having 

 a pith, the halm of grain, cavities already existing in 

 many substances, and even within the shells of dead 

 snails. These perforations are sometimes simple, and 

 sometimes they have divergent and ramifying channels, 

 Sometimes they are carefully lined with a silky mem- 

 brane secreted by the insect, and sometimes they are 

 hung with a tapestry of pieces of leaves, cut methodi- 

 cally from plants, but some leave their walls entirely 

 bare. All these particulars I shall have ample oppor- 

 tunity to note in the special descriptions of the genera. 

 I merely indicate them to show how various are the 

 receptacles for the offspring of our bees. 



