316 
BRITISH BEES. 
the Dipterous genera, Volucella and Conops, are very 
destructive to their larvae,—the first of these genera in 
its colouring greatly resembling the species upon which 
it preys. Foxes, weasels, field-mice, all prey upon them, 
and, like schoolboys, often destroy the bee for the sake 
of its honey-bag, an instance of which I have before 
recorded as illustrative of their endurance of the loss of 
a considerable portion of the body without its being 
fatal. 
The most interesting part of their history is perhaps 
that upon which I have not yet enlarged, namely, the 
structure of their nests. This is particularly the case 
with the carder-bees, which felt and plait the filaments 
of moss to form its whole enclosure. Such species se¬ 
lect a spot close to an abundant supply of the material; 
this they bite off and form pellets of. To these nests a 
moderately long arched passage is formed of the same 
material, of sufficient size to permit the free passage of 
the bees to and fro. This necessarilv is shorter at first 
•/ 
and leads to a smaller receptacle when the parent bee 
works alone. But as her offspring of workers increases, 
the passage is lengthened and the nest enlarged. To 
construct it, when in full activity, the bees form a chain, 
one behind the other, extending from the growing ma¬ 
terial to the entrance of their passage to the nest, all 
their heads being turned towards the moss and their backs 
to the nest. The first bites off the raw material, rolls it 
and twists it, and passes it to the second, by whom and 
the succeeding ones it undergoes further manipulation, 
and where the chain terminates at the commencement 
of the passage another bee receives it and conveys it 
along this into the interior, and then applies it itself 
or passes it to others thus employed where it is re- 
