CHAPTER IX 
RACES OF BEES 
The honeybee, so well known to beekeepers, has certain 
near relatives which are of interest, and it is quite probable 
that a careful study of the various phases in the behavior of 
these bees would throw considerable light on similar phe¬ 
nomena in the honeybee. The honeybee is usually considered 
as representing the apex of the evolution of the bees (Apidse), 
in that the social organization is the most complex found 
in this family of insects. The ants (Formicidie) and wasps 
(Vespidse) represent lines of parallel evolution in social life 
which has resulted in insect communities, comparable, but 
by no means identical, with that of the honeybee. 
TYPES OF SOCIAL BEES 
Among the Apidae are three great types of social bees, the 
bumblebee (Bombus), 1 the stingless bees (Melipona and 
Trigona) and the honeybees (Apis). The simplest forms, the 
bumblebees, have smaller colonies which die out during the 
winter, leaving the species to be continued from fertilized 
queens which hibernate. The stingless bees are tropical 
insects which store their honey and pollen in spherical vessels 
and rear their brood in “combs,” one cell in thickness. In 
the honeybee colony, the architecture is the most perfect 
and the honey and pollen are stored and the brood is reared 
in hexagonal cells, which combine to form a comb two cells 
1 For an excellent discussion of the biology of English bumblebees, 
consult Sladen, F. W. L., 1912. The humble-bee, the life history and how 
to domesticate it. London : Macmillan and Co. 
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