BEES AND WASPS AS MINERS. 63 



that never in all their worthless lives do a stroke of 

 honest work. 



These cuckoo bees, as they have very appropri- 

 ately been called, have no means provided, as have 

 other bees, in the way of widened hind legs bor- 

 dered with bristles, nor thick coats of hairs on the 

 lower parts of their bodies, for collecting pollen. 



The common working bees look heavy and clum- 

 sily built compared with them ; their smooth, shiny, 

 and slender bodies are adorned with the richest of 

 colors ; they are aristocrats among the bees, fashion- 

 able folks, who spend their days iiying about for 

 pleasure. They make their way into the homes of 

 nest-making bees in the absence of the rightful own- 

 ers and deposit their own eggs on the masses of food 

 stored up for the intended occupant, the children of 

 the laborers. 



Nest-making bees are another variety of the in- 

 sect we know so well. They are solitary bees, and do 

 not live in hives. There are many sorts of them. 

 Carpenters, as described elsewhere, work out homes 

 for their babies in solid timber ; masons, that build 

 their nests of grains of sand cemented together ; up- 

 holsterers, that cut out and piece rose leaves together ; 

 and miners, that sink shafts deep into the earth and 

 make nurseries in them. 



The Andrena bee burrows in light soil to a depth 

 of from five to twelve inches. The tube belonging 

 to the species, shown in the accompanying illustra- 

 tion, is perpendicular, with small chambers, slanting 

 downward at intervals, on different sides, and eon- 



