212 BOMBUS TERRESTRIS. 



on the surface. When they do not meet with an accidental cavity 

 ready made they excavate one with great labour. It is of consi- 

 derable extent, broader than it is deep, and constructed in the 

 form of a dome, by a convex vault or coping of moss, the interior 

 surface of which is lined with a kind of coarse wax, to keep out the 

 wet. In this nest, which measures from four to six feet in dia- 

 meter, the female deposits little masses of brown wax, forming a 

 kind of irregular cells. In these cells, which are of three different 

 sizes according to the sex of the destined inhabitant, the eggs are 

 laid, and the larvae, having lived their appointed period in that 

 state, form each its coccoon, which is pierced at the bottom, and 

 through this opening the perfect insect finds its exit. In every 

 nest are placed a few cylindrical cells of coarse wax, filled with 

 pure honey, on which feed the complete insects. 



The Humble- Bees consist of males, females, and two distinct 

 varieties of neuters or labourers. The females, of which there are 

 more than one in each society, are the largest, the males are of 

 middle size, as well as one variety of neuters, the smaller kind of 

 which are scarcely larger, indeed sometimes even less, than the 

 hive-bee. According to the observations of the younger Hubcr, 

 many of the labourers, which are produced in the spring, unite 

 with the males of the same race, and soon after lay their eggs, 

 which produce only individuals of the latter sex, and are destined in 

 the spring of the following year to lay the foundation of a new 

 colony. 



The Poison of Bees and Wasps is a transparent fluid, contained 

 in a small vesicle, forced through the hollow tube of the sting into 

 the wound inflicted by that instrument. It is at first sweet to the 

 taste, but immediately afterwards hot and acrid, like the milky 

 juice of the Spurge. From the experiments of Fontana, we learn 

 that it bears a striking resemblance to the poison of the Viper, 

 which, however differs from it in being tasteless, and not affecting 

 vegetable blues.* That of the Humble-Bees is much less active 

 than that of the Hive-Bee and the Wasps. 



* On Poisons, i. p. 265. 



