COMMON HUMBLE-BEE. 
249 
fellow workers of the liive in the neatness of their 
work, the several patches adhering to the outside of 
the cells contribute much to the rough and clumsy 
appearance which the interior of the nest exhibits. 
In fifteen days the bee arrives at its perfect state ; 
its body has become hardened, and is covered with 
a greyish down, which, on being exposed to the 
light, assumes a diversity of colours. It gnaws 
through its prison- walls, assisted by its fellows ; and 
in a quarter of an hour from the commencement of 
its exertions, it emerges from its cradle, leaves its 
nest, and takes its first flight into the fields in search 
of honey. Its deserted habitation has now the form 
of a truncated cone, and is made a receptacle for 
provisions. As her progeny gradually increases in 
numbers, the mother-bee relaxes in her labours; 
she leaves to them the lining of the walls and roof 
of the nest with a thin membrane of wax ; and 
though she occasionally lends her aid in the con- 
struction of cells, it is only to give the finishing 
polish to what the workers have already “ rough- 
hewn.” 
The inmates of an humble-bee nest are, as has 
been stated, of three classes : females, males, and 
workers. The old female, we have said, is alone in 
spring. In May, the eggs which she has laid, have 
been hatched, and produce workers only ; the females 
and males of the community do not appear till later, 
— none sooner than June, and the greatest number 
in July. The males have the advantage of the hive- 
drone in point of usefulness to the community ; for 
