HYMENOPTERA. 
45 
burrows in the ground, in holes of trees, or clefts and cracks in walls; the cells 
being separated by partitions, and made of the ruins of the burrow or cleft. 
Generally the whole nest has the form of a twisted tube. Like their allies, these 
bees are solitary, and, like humble-bees, are much infested by parasites. Finally, 
we have the long-horned bees, of which one species (Eucera longicornis ) is shown 
in the same illustration. These bees construct smooth tunnels in the earth, divided 
as usual into sections, each of which contains one egg, together with a supply of 
pollen and honey for the future larva. 
True Bees, —Family Apidaj. 
In this group are included not only the various kinds of honey-bees, but 
likewise their more clumsy cousins the humble-bees. Such a well-known insect 
as the common honey-bee (Apis melifica), of which the habits have been already 
referred to, requires no special notice; but it is important to observe that the 
1, COMMON HUMBLE-BEE WITH NEST; 2, STONE HUMBLE-BEE. (Nat. size.) 
honey-bees of the equatorial zone differ somewhat from those inhabiting more 
temperate regions, in consequence of which they are assigned to distinct genera, 
such as Melipoma, Trigona, and Tetrasoma. All these are rather small and sting¬ 
less bees, making up for the absence of a special weapon of offence by a free use 
of their jaws. Their brood-cells and combs resemble those of the common wasp, 
each forming but a single layer; and clay and resinous substances being chiefly 
used for closing the entrance of the cavities in which the nest are placed. The 
characteristic transitional features in the shape of the cells, intermediate between 
the simple cylindrical and the perfect hexagonal forms, have already been noticed 
in the short introductory remarks. Melipoma and its allies form the connecting 
link between the solitary and the liive-bees. As in the wasps, each family in the 
humble-bees owes its origin to a single female which has hibernated usually in 
