OF THE HORNET. 73 



finding much, and the weather becoming cold, and having now hardly 

 any home to go to, they become benumbed and die. 



To see what would become of them, if I were to take better care of 

 them than the season now allows, I had caught for me, throughout the 

 month of October, all the humble-bees that could be found : I put 

 them under a large glass, with honey for them to feed upon, which they 

 did, but they all died in the course of some clays after being confined. 

 The intention was to see what bees lived through the winter and what 

 not. It was in these trials that I observed the disproportion between 

 males and females : they both died equally fast ; and of the females, 

 whether large (which I supposed to have been the last year's) or small, 

 they died equally soon. Most of them died with the proboscis erected 

 or elongated. 



Of the Progress of Breeding. — The progress of breeding appears to be 

 in this manner : the first step is the female bee of the last year's brood, 

 which has lain dormant through the winter: she begins the hive; 

 and the first brood are the small bees or labourers, which assist the 

 mother in the labours of the family, bringing in farina for the future 

 maggots, and also probably honey, to fill the pods or cells from whence 

 they come ; and, towards the latter end of the season, they even lay 

 eggs. Some males are in the nest to impregnate the breeding labourers 1 , 

 and then the young queens are bred. How far labourers are continued 

 to be bred along with the males and young queens I do not yet know, 

 but I believe some are, for I have found small pods or chrysalises along 

 with the large. I have reason to suppose that the males give no 

 assistance to the females in collecting either the farina or honey : I 

 have never been able to detect a male with farina on its legs, although 

 I have examined many hundreds. Nor do I imagine that what are 

 to be the next year's queens give any assistance in the year they 

 are themselves bred in ; indeed they are hardly bred early enough 

 to breed much that season. 



Economy of Hornets. 



The hornet (Vespa Crabro) and the wasp {Vespa vulgaris) are two 

 species of the bee-tribe, yet they are so much alike that I could almost 

 suppose them the same species. They are much more so than any 

 other two species of the same tribe. They are exactly the same in 

 form, and nearly so in colour ; and their anatomical structure, mode of 

 life, food, offence and defence, structure and materials of combs, and 



1 [Further experiment and observation may be requisite to establish this necessity.] 



