a* 



Chapter IV. 



CARDER-BEES ; HUMBLE-BEES ; SOCIAL-WASPS. 



The bees and wasps, whose ingenious architecture 

 we have already examined, are solitary in their la- 

 bours. Those we are about to describe live in so- 

 ciety. The perfection of the social state among this 

 class of insects is certainly that of the hive-bees. 

 They are the inhabitants of a large city, where the 

 arts are carried to a higher excellence than in small 

 districts, enjoying little communication of intelli- 

 gence. But the bees of the villages, if we may follow 

 up the parallel, are not without their interest. Such 

 are those which are called carder-bees and humble- 

 bees. 



Carder-Bees. 



The nests of the bees which Rtfaumur denomi- 

 nates carders (Bombus muscorum, Lair.) are by no 

 means uncommon, and are well worth the study of 

 the naturalist. During the hay harvest, they are fre- 

 quently met with by mowers in the open fields and 

 meadows ; but they may sometimes be discovered in 

 hedge-banks, the borders of copses, or among moss- 

 grown stones. The description of the mode of build- 

 ing adopted by this bee has been copied by most of our 

 writers on insects from Reaumur ; though he is not a 

 little severe on those who write, without having ever 

 had a single nest in their possession. We have been 

 aide to avoid such a reproach ; for we have now before 



