5 4 HYMENOPTERA 



than to what they are in the genus Ajris. The societies come to 

 an end at the close of . the season, a few females live through the 

 winter, and each of these starts a new colony in the following- 

 spring. Males, females and workers exist, but the latter are 

 not distinguished by any good characters from the females, and 

 are, in fact, nothing but more or less imperfect forms thereof; 

 wliereas in Apis the workers are distinguished by structural 

 characters not found in either of the true sexes. 



Hoffer has given a description of the commencement of a 

 society of Bomhus lapidarivs} A large female, at the end of May, 

 collected together a small mass of moss, then made an expedition ^ 

 and returned laden with pollen ; under cover of the moss a cell 

 was formed of wax taken from the hind-body and mixed with 

 the pollen the bee had brought in ; this cell was fastened to a 

 piece of wood ; when completed it formed a subspherical recep- 

 tacle, the outer wall of which consisted of wax, and whose interior 

 was lined with honey-saturated pollen ; then several eggs were 

 laid in this receptacle, and it was entirely closed. Hoffer took 

 the completed cell away to use it for museum purposes, and the 

 following day the poor bee that had formed it died. From 

 observations made on Boiiibus agrorum he was able to describe 

 the subsequent operations ; these are somewhat as follows : — The 

 first cell being constructed, stored, and closed, the industrious 

 architect, clinging to the cell, takes a few days' rest, and after 

 this interval commences the formation of a second cell ; this is 

 placed by the side of the first, to which it is connected by a 

 mixture of wax and pollen ; the second cell being completed a 

 third may be formed ; but the labours of the constructor about 

 this time are augmented by the hatching of the eggs deposited 

 a few days previously ; for the young larvae, having soon disposed 

 of the small quantity of food in the interior of the waxen cell, 

 require feeding. This operation is carried on by forming a small 

 opening in the upper part of the cell, through which the bee 

 conveys food to the interior by ejecting it from her mouth 

 through the hole ; whether the food is conveyed directly to 

 the mouths of the larvae or not, Hoffer was unable to observe ; 

 it being much more difficult to approach this royal founder 

 without disturbing her than it is the worker-bees that carry on 

 similar occupations at a subsequent period in the history of the 



^ Mt. Ver. Steiermark, xxxi. 1882, p. 69. 



