193 
1923] Notes on the Egg-Eating Habit of Bumblebees 
NOTES ON THE EGG-EATING HABIT OF BUMBLEBEES.^ 
By O. E. PlatHj 
College of Liberal Arts, Boston University. 
Among the older treatises on the biology of bumblebees, that 
of the Swiss biologist Huber (1802) occupies a preOninent 
position, partly because it is more comprehensive than those of 
earlier workers, but chiefly on account of the many new ob- 
servations which are described by the author. Among other 
things, Huber (pp. 259-260) relates that, while engaged in egg- 
laying, the bumblebee queen is frequently molested by the 
workers who try to steal the newly-laid eggs in order to ^ drink 
the milky juice’’, and that the queen repels such offenders with 
great fury. About eighty years later, Huber’s (1802) account 
was confirmed by the well-known Austrian bumblebee student 
Hoffer (1882-83), and a few years later also by Harter (1890^ 
pp. 62-65). Hoffer (I, pp. 12-14) describes this interesting phase 
in the life-history of the bumblebee colony as follows: ‘‘While 
engaged in egg-laying, the queen usually is severely molested by 
the workers and the so-called small queens (and if she be one of 
the latter, even by the old queen), while the males, although 
coming into close proximity, do not cause the slightest trouble. 
In the case of B. lapidarius, I frequently observed small queens, 
or also common workers, force their heads. between the cell- wall 
and the dorsal side of the abdomen of the egg-laying individual 
in the attempt to snatch the freshly-laid eggs from the cell******, 
an endeavor in which they frequently succeeded to the great 
vexation of the egg-laying queen.******* 
“The proper number of eggs having been laid, the queen 
quickly withdraws her abdomen from the cell, and turning about 
quickly, first of all drives away the most obtrusive workers and 
other females, and closes the cell with 'y^ax*******; if the re- 
maining individuals approach too close, she quickly makes an 
example by seizing the boldest individual with her legs and 
mandibles and engaging in a rough and tumble fight with her for 
a few moments, during which both individuals sometimes tumble 
^Contributions from the Entomological Laboratory of the Bussey Insti- 
tution, Harvard University. No. 232. 
