HONEY-BEES. 269 



slow degrees, but as the young grub, which is the only tenant of 

 the cell, is without feet and is not in the least formed for locomo- 

 tion, a very slight partition is sufficient to control its movements. 

 The grub does nothing but hold to the end of the cell with 

 its piercers, open its mouth for food, and occasionally protrude 

 or withdraw itself in a very slight degree ; and its utter immo- 

 bility in the larval and pupal states affords a strange contrast to 

 the restless and fussy activity which actuates it after it has 

 attained its perfect form. 



As is generally known, the nests of wild honey-bees are placed 

 in the hollows of trees. Mr. Cotton, the well-known apiarian, 

 remarked, when discussing the comparative merits of straw and 

 wooden hives, that in a state of nature the bee never builds in a 

 truss of straw, but in a hollow tree. N"ow, although I quite 

 concur with that author in his partiality for the wooden hive, I 

 cannot see that the illustration which he employs has anything 

 to do with the subject, or that it affords the least proof on either 

 side of the argument. Wild bees are not very likely to find 

 trusses of straw in the woods, and those trusses conveniently 

 liollowed to receive them. But I do think that if a few com- 

 mon straw hives were set in the woods, the bees would be as 

 likely to take up their habitation in them as in the hollows of 

 trees. 



Still, among honey-bees, of which there are several species, 

 the custom of nesting in hollow trees is almost universal. Bee- 

 hunters, whether biped or quadruped, whether man, bird, ratel, 

 or bear, search for their sweet spoil in the trees, and know by 

 experience when a tree is likely to contain honey-combs. But 

 in certain parts of tropical America the bees change their habits. 



There is a genus of wild honey-bees, named Trigona, the members 

 of which are notable for their bold departure from ordinary bee 

 customs. They make their nests at the tops of the branches, it is 

 true, but they do not place their combs inside the hoUow trees, 

 of which there is great store in the woods. The Trigonas make 

 nests of a pear shape, and of tolerable size, and hang them at 

 the very summit of trees and at the end of the slenderest twigs, 

 so that even the agile monkeys of that land, aided with their 

 long, prehensile tails, are unable to reach the nest. 



It is somewhat remarkable that the habit of this insect should 



