314 BRITISH BEES. 



and forty ; but it is in those that construct their nests 

 above the ground that the fewest are found. As with 

 the general population, so with the relative proportions 

 of the sexes, the several species vary. Of course all 

 these numbers are approximative only, as under certain 

 conditions they will necessarily differ, nor are the general 

 or relative numbers identical, even in the same species, 

 in the same season, and in the same locality. The pro-'* 

 portions are usually somewhat like this, about double 

 the number of neuters to females, and nearly the same 

 number of males as of females. In some of the com- 

 munities there are even as few as twenty neuters, and 

 these, of course, comprise those species which are most 

 rarely found by collectors. The most pugnacious of all, 

 and the fiercest in their attacks and most painful in 

 their stings, are those which live underground or in 

 cavities formed of accumulations of stones, and it is these 

 which are the least constructive in their habitations, as 

 if their truculent nature rejected the concomitants of 

 incipient civilization ; for it is those which build moss- 

 nests, requiring a certain amount of skill, that are the 

 most gentle in their habits. With the increase of 

 numbers in the habitation, the rapidity of the labours 

 progresses, and the accumulations quickly increase ; but 

 there is always opportunity for the entire community to 

 find employment, either in enlarging their nests, when 

 they build them, or in securing them from the intrusion 

 of water, or repelling enemies, or feeding the young, and 

 accumulating stores. In collecting pollen they are often 

 covered as if they had rolled themselves in it, and this 

 they brush from their hairy bodies chiefly with their 

 posterior legs ; sometimes they return in this disguised 

 condition, and free themselves from it only at home ; in 



