12 BEES AND BEE-KEEPING. 



Hive Bee. As we become acquainted with the latter, 

 we shall see that the mother Megachile is queen 

 and worker combined ; the male, the short-lived 

 drone. The cell, its sealing, the food, the egg, the 

 tongue, the hair brushes, the abdomen of the two 

 insects, counterparts of one another in each case. All 

 Nature is one, and the student of the Hive Bee is 

 unwise, and self-deprived of the knowledge of much 

 that is marvellous and delightful, if he altogether 

 neglect all members of the family Apidae save its head 

 and most perfect representative. 



Fig. 1.— The Humble Bee (Bombus). 



The Humble Bees, or Bombi (Fig. i), come nearest 

 to our Hive Bees in that they are semi-social, living 

 in companies during the summer, the queen pass- 

 ing the winter in solitude. The big downy and noisy 

 insect that visits our gardens in the spring is a 

 mother Bombus, that spent her honeymoon the pre- 

 vious autumn, in like fashion with the Megachile, 

 and subsequently sought out for herself some narrow 

 retreat in which to hybernate ; but, so soon as the 

 sallows yield their pollen, she is abroad and preparing 

 for the progeny by which she is presently to be sur* 

 rounded. Different species have different habits, but 



