366 THE HOME OF THE BEES. 
hundred to five hundred dead workers, but no females. 
The combs were arranged precisely similar to those of 
the common wasp. The number of honey-pots which 
were placed at the foot of the nest was two hundred and 
fifty. Mr. Smith inclines to the opinion that the hive 
of Trigona contains several prolific females, as the great 
number of workers can only be thus explained, and M. 
Guerin found six females in a nest of Melipona fulvipes. 
At home, our nearest ally of the true Honey-bee, is 
the Humble-bee (Bombus), of which over forty species 
are known to inhabit North America. 
The economy of the Humble-bee is thus: the queen 
awakens in early spring from her winter’s sleep beneath 
the leaves or moss, or in deserted nests, and selects a nest- 
ing place generally in an abandoned nest of a field-mouse, 
or beneath a stump or sod, and “immediately,” according 
to Mr. F. W.Putnam,* “collects a small amount of pollen 
mixed with honey, and in this deposits from seven to 
fourteen eggs, gradually adding to the pollen mass until » 
the first brood is hatched. She does not wait, however, 
for one brood to be hatched’ before laying the eggs of 
another, but, as soon as food enough has been collected, 
she lays the eggs for a second. The eggs (Plate 10, Fig. 
2), are laid, in contact with each other, in one cavity of 
the mass of pollen, with a part of which they are slightly 
covered. They are very soon developed ; in fact the lines 
are nowhere distinctly drawn between the egg and the 
a aed BE 
5 : ` ‘ titute, 
*Notes on the Habits of the Humble-bee, Proceedings of the Essex Ins 
vol. iv, 1864, p. 101. Mr. Angus thus writes us concerning the habits of B. eee 
fo near our garden fe: it by the 
be made by amouse. They seem to be quite numerous. I was attracted to many 
noise they were m: ing a ening. I coun 0 several 
as seven thus enie, and the sound could be heard several yards off. i ai 
Males were at rest, but mostly on the wing, when they would make a pagel pe 0 
the fanners, und all would scatter and sport around. The workers seem "opning 
a uniform size, and full as e as the males. I think the object of the 
was to introduce air into the as is done by the Honey-bees.” 
