THE HONEY-BEE AND OTHER SOCIAL ANIMALS 315 



Careful observation of the ants in the indoor nest, 

 and of nests and individuals out of doors, will reveal 

 many of the remarkable and in- 

 teresting features of ant life, and 

 almost surel)' things not now known 

 to naturalists will be found out. 



Wasps and bumble-bees. — The 

 true wasps, commonly called yellow- 

 jackets and hornets, and the bum- 

 ble-bees, also live in communities: 

 but among these forms each house- 

 hold lasts only from spring into 

 autumn, new communities being 

 formed the next spring by queens 

 which live through the winter. The 

 few bumble-bees which we see in 

 winter-time, usually hiding in some 

 sheltered place, are queens. In the 

 spring each queen finds a deserted 

 mouse's nest or other hole in the 

 ground, gathers a mass of pollen, 

 and lays some eggs on it. The larvje, hatching, feed 

 on the pollen, dig out irregular cells for themselves in 

 it, pupate, and soon issue as workers or unfertile females. 



These workers gather more 

 pollen, the queen lays more 

 eggs, and several succes- 

 sive broods of workers are 

 produced. Finally, late in 

 the summer a brood con- 

 taining males (drones) and 

 (Natural fertile females (queens) is 

 produced, mating takes 

 place, and then before winter all the workers and drones 

 and some of the queens die, leaving a few fertilized 



Fig. 246. — Bumble-bee at 

 clover blossom. (From 

 life.) 



Fig. 247. 



—Yellow -jackets, 

 size; from life.) 



