Acadia 
balls of bright yellow pollen. It soon dawned 
upon us that we were lying at our ease upon a 
colony of bees' nests, — a position more novel 
than assuring. The bees did not offer to sting 
us, although we were sadly interfering with their 
domestic duties by covering up their holes. 
As soon as we realised the state of affairs, we 
departed in as orderly a manner as was com- 
patible with extreme haste. Curiosity, how- 
ever, compelled us to dig out one of the holes. 
The little hole went down for some distance in 
a straight line and then turned and for an inch 
or two ran parallel to the surface, then went 
down for a short distance in a slanting direc- 
tion. About half-way down the long gallery, 
we dug out Madam Bee, very much flustered, 
and overwhelmed with grief and indignation. 
At the termination to the gallery we found 
a mass of pollen about as large as a white bean 
and enclosed in a glistening case, looking like 
a very delicate pupa case, and made, no doubt, 
from a secretion from the bee's mouth. This 
little object when crushed had a strong odour of 
honey and also a slight odour of cheese. Into 
this mass of nutriment the bee had doubtless 
deposited her egg. It must have taken a long 
47 
