126 ZOOLOGY. 



The Humblebees (Bombus) are tolerably large, 

 stout, thick-set, and hairy. They construct nests 

 below the surface of the soil (often in peaty places), 

 made up of oval or irregular waxen cells the size of 

 a hazel-nut. They fly rapidly, always making a 

 humming sound. Many species are black, with yellow 

 and white, or red transverse stripes. 



Honey-producing flowers ia which the corolla is so 

 long that even the proboscis of humblebees cannot 

 reach the honey hidden at the bottom of the flower, 

 (tobacco, field and garden beans) are gnawed at their 

 base by the sharp mandibles of the bees, so that a 

 hole is made in the calyx and corolla through which 

 the tongue can be put. In this way the ovary is some- 

 times wounded, and the normal development of the 

 fruit rendered impossible. Perhaps a certain amount 

 of damage, always however inconsiderable, may thus 

 be efiected. 



Family: Vespidse (Wasps). 



Mouth-parts as in bees. Also with stings. Slender, 

 and either hairless or only slightly hairy. Eyes 

 kidney shaped. Fore wings folded together longi- 

 tudinally when at rest (Figs. 61 and 88). 



A distinction is made between solitary and social 

 wasps ; the latter possess males, females, and workers. 

 Only the fertilized queens survive the winter. In the 

 spring each of these begins to construct a nest (Fig. 

 88). In the wasp's nest each comb consists only of a 

 single layer of cells, the openings of which are turned 

 downwards. In a single nest several of these hori- 

 zontally placed combs are usually found one over 

 another, and are connected together by means of 

 vertical piUars. Some nests are built in hollow trees, 

 others in holes in the ground ; others hang freely from 

 trees, in which case they are covered by several 

 layers of a papery substance. The combs and cells 

 are also made of paper, to prepare which the insect 



