244 
HTJMBXE-BEES. 
pale-yellow or luteous ; the posterior tibiae rather 
smooth above, the lateral hairs cinereous ; abdomen 
approaching to globose. Slight varieties are formed 
by the coloured bands being sometimes of a lighter 
or a darker hue. 
This insect abounds in our fields and gardens, and 
is almost equally common throughout all Europe. 
It is distinguished above its congeners for strength 
and activity. It is one of the earliest insects that 
appear in the spring, and one of the latest to 
leave us in autumn. It forms its nest, as is well 
known, in holes in the ground, sometimes excavated 
laboriously by its own efforts, sometimes previously 
formed by other animals and token possession of by 
the foundress of the colony. The females of this, as 
of all the other species, are largest in size, the males 
next, and the workers smallest. Early in spring, 
when the willows begin to bloom, the female may be 
seen traversing the gardens by sun-rise with her 
usual sonorous booming, and busied in collecting 
honey and pollen from the catkins. The workers 
do not appear till a somewhat later period, and the 
males not till autumn, when the thistles are in blos- 
som, upon the flowers of which they are found in 
great numbers, and in still greater, if possible, upon 
seeding leeks and onions, where, on a single flower, 
may be seen half a dozen at the same moment. At 
this early period of the year, the female is a solitary 
being, and her flights are directed in search of a place 
suitable for a habitation. The females only, of all 
the former year’s colonv have survived the winter. 
