402 
THE HIVE BEE. 
entering so long’ and dark a channel. The tube is always curved. When the burrow is coni' 
pleted, the W asj) lays its egg in the tunnel, and packs in it a series of little green caterpillars, 
which serve as food for the larva. When the arrangements are completed, the Wasp takes 
down her tube, and employs the materials in closing the mouth of the tunnel. The technical 
name of this insect is Odynerus muraria. Another species is also known to possess this curious 
faculty. 
The true Wasps, or V espidse, come next in order. These insects are gregarions in their 
habits, building nests in which a large, but uncertain number of young are reared. The 
common Wasp makes its nest within the ground, sometimes taking advantage of the deserted 
hole of a rat or mouse, and sometimes working for itself. The substance of which the nest is 
made is a paper-like material, obtained by nibbling w r oody fibres from decayed trees or bark, 
and kneading it to a paste between the jaws. The general shape of the nest is globular, and 
the walls are of considerable thickness, in order to guard the cells from falling earth, a circular 
aperture being left, through which the inhabitants can enter or leave their home. 
Many species of Wasp inhabit Europe, the Horxet ( Vespa crabro) being the largest, and, 
indeed, being nearly equal in dimensions to any tropical species. This formidable insect 
makes a nest very similar to that of the v r asp, but the cells are necessarily much larger. The 
nest is generally placed in hollow trees, but I have known a colony of these insects to establish 
themselves in an outhouse, and to cause great annoyance before they could be expelled. 
A very pretty nest is also found in Europe, the work of the Vespa britannica. It 
is suspended to branches, is nearly globular in shape, and extremely variable in size, some 
specimens being nearly a foot in diameter, while others are comparatively small. A very 
pretty specimen in my possession is about the size of a tennis ball. Some exotic species make 
nests, the covering or outer case wdiereof is thick and tough as pasteboard, and nearly white 
in color. One of these nests, wdiich is found in the Brazils, is popularly called the Dutchman’s 
pipe, its shape somewhat resembling an exaggerated pipe-bowl, the aperture for ingress and 
egress doing duty for the mouth, and the branch on which it is .suspended taking the place of 
the stem. I believe that the insect which forms this curious structure belongs to the genus 
Chartergus. The central orifice penetrates through all the layers of combs. 
The left-hand figure on the engraving at page 401 represents a fine insect, a native of 
Brazil, belonging to the Bembecidse. This species is in the habit of catching grasshoppers of 
considerable size, carrying them off, and stocking with these insects the habitation made for 
its young. A very fine species of Chrysis is parasitic upon it. 
There are, perhaps, few insects so important to mankind as those which procure the 
sweet substance so well known by the name of honey. Nearly all the lioney-making Hymen- 
optera are furnished with stings, and in many species the poison is fearfully intense. Some 
of these insects, such as the Hive Bee, which is represented in the accompanying engraving, 
make waxen cells of mathematical accuracy, the larvae being placed in separate cells, and fed 
by the neuters. In some cases, such as the common Humble Bee, the cells are egg-shaped, 
each cell being either occupied by a larva, or filled with honey ; while in some species the eggs 
are placed parasitically in the nests of other bees, so that the larvae feed either upon the stores 
of food gathered for the involuntary host, or upon the body of the deluded insect itself. 
The Hive Bee is the typical example of the honey-gatherers, but its general economy is 
too well known to need much description. Suffice it to say that, as in the ants, the com- 
munity consists of males, females, and neuters, but that in the Bees, all the members of the 
establishment are winged, and the wings are permanent. In each hive there is one fully- 
developed female, called the queen, several others in process of development, and intended to 
be the heads of future establishments, a limited number of males, and a vast band of neuters, 
i. <?., undeveloped females. The males have no sting, but both the females and neuters are 
armed with this tiny, but formidable w r eapon. Since in civilized countries the Hive Bees are 
kept in habitations of limited size, their numbers soon outgrow their home, and a large number 
accordingly quit the hive under the government of the old queen, the rule of the hive being 
taken up with one of the young queens, which has burst from its cell in the meanwhile. A 
