THE WEB OF LIFE 



343 



but it does show how gradually the state of affairs in the 

 hive-bee community might evolve. This becomes even 

 more convincing when we go into detail ; thus, among 

 humble-bees, some (ia the North) are quite soUtary — ^female 

 and males, without any workers ; some (e.g. in Britain 

 and Germany) form temporary summer societies ; some 

 (e.g. in Corsica and the Balearic Islands) partially sur- 

 vive the winter as societies ; and, finally, some tropical 

 forms (according to E. von Jhering) are permanently 

 social. 



Fio. 55. — Section of nest of Humble-Bee, Bombus lapidariua. (After 

 Wagner.) To the outside there ia a felt work of grass stems and the 

 like. The entrance is to the right on the level of the ground. In 

 the 'middle of the cavity of the nest of this species, lies a dome of 

 wax, above butjnot below the cells which contain the pupse. 

 The entrance is shown by which the queen — still the only tenant 

 — enters to brood over the cells or to give honey to the larvae. 

 In a finely made nest the roof of the cavity of the nest is plastered 

 with wax, where the figure shows a dark line. 



We have figured a stage in the history of the nest of the 

 humble-bee (Bombus). In the early Spring the queens, 

 who are the only survivors of the previous summer's colony, 

 awaken from their winter sleep, and make for the early 

 flowers, such as the catkins of the dwarf willow. Each 

 seeks out a nesting-place imderground, perhaps in the 



