£00 
Loree 
self completes them, smoothing and polishing the 
interior. When she prepares to layin a cell, the 
workers, unlike that care which those of common 
bees bestow on the eggs of their queen that are 
to preserve the colony, eagerly endeavour to de- 
vour them. The moment that the eggs are de- 
posited, and the female is about to close the cell 
with a waxen covering, they rush upon it, and 
are repulsed only by her defence; or, if she re- 
moves during an instant, they steal thither, and 
surreptitiously carry off the eggs. The female is, 
therefore, under the necessity of keeping inces- 
sant watch during several hours, after which she 
may leave the cell; for it is only in their first 
stage that the eggs are sought for with avidity 
by the common bees. Sometimes twenty eggs 
are deposited by a female in a single cell, which 
is then closed; but it does not appear that the 
bees are careful to provide the young with a suf- 
ficient store to serve them until their ultimate 
metamorphosis; for the mother supplies a thick 
layer of pollen whereon her eggs are deposited, 
which is soon consumed by the larvee. After be- 
ing hatched, the common bees make a small hole 
in the top of the cell, and then go in quest of 
honey or pollen. This they obtain from the rest 
of their combs, and seem to introduce it by the 
opening to feed the young; they then withdraw, 
and close the cell. Some cells acquire percep- 
tible increment; from being very small they be- 
come as large as a nut, which results from the 
included worms, perhaps six or seven in number, 
successively bursting the cell, and the cleft being 
as often covered over with wax by the bees. When 
the young bee has attained its perfect state, the 
workers gradually contract the mouth of the cell 
it has left, and lay up their honey init. Other 
cells are also constructed of pure wax, which are 
so many reservoirs of honey from the beginning, 
and have never contained young. 
Humble bees form a very considerable quantity 
of wax; and the observations of naturalists re- 
garding them has thrown some light on the pro- 
duction of this substance. Several species, both 
of those that dwell in cavities of the earth, and 
those that inhabit nests covered with moss on 
the surface, invest their whole combs with a 
waxen envelope, so as to serve for a protection. 
It rises around their combs like a kind of wall, 
and constitutes both a floor and a roof, at such 
distance from the cells as to admit of the bees 
passing. When their envelope is destroyed, the 
bees restore it with wonderful assiduity. An 
observer, by removing it four times in nine days, 
obtained as many new coverings, which formed 
eight inches square; and in four or five days 
more they made a new one, which, along with 
the others, weighed 365 grains. Instead of this 
covering, however, they are frequently obliged 
to be content with moss or leaves. Females pro- 
duce a greater quantity of wax than any of the 
other individuals in a nest; but the males pro- 
duce it also, though they cannot, like the females 
BEE. 
and workers, convert it to use. The wax of hum- 
ble bees is an immediate production from the: 
honey on which they feed. 
Humble bees are remarkably subject to tor- 
pidity, and perhaps might be the means of illus- 
trating the difficulties attending all investigations 
into its operation on insects. ‘Towards the end 
of autumn they are seen languid and inactive on 
the few remaining flowers, incapable of defending 
themselves from injury. The life of the whole 
apparently terminates with the season, unless it 
be from some accidental circumstance, as we 
have already observed, that a few of the females 
are preserved. How they survive the winter we 
know not; possibly it may be in the earth, or in 
the holes of walls; but the number must be very 
small. Were they not in torpidity they would 
fly about during the winter, which is never seen; 
and the same degree of heat would awaken the 
whole, or there would be no considerable differ- 
ence, unless by their being farther withdrawn 
from the influence of the atmosphere. Very few, 
however, appear in spring; and it is not until 
the heats of summer, or rather later, that they 
become numerous. The casualties to which these 
and many insects are exposed, render it far from 
improbable, that various species gradually be- 
come extinct. 
The Carpenter-bee—Besides the bees already 
mentioned, there are various kinds that have 
much the appearance of honey-makers, and yet 
make only wax. The wood-bee is seen in every 
garden. It is rather larger than the common 
queen-bee ; its body of a bluish black, which is 
smooth and shining. It begins to appear at the 
approach of spring, and is seen flying near walls 
exposed to a sunny aspect. This bee makes its 
nest in some piece of wood, which it contrives to 
scoop and hollow for its purpose. ‘“ We have 
frequently witnessed,” says Mr. Rennie, “ the 
operations of these ingenious little workers, who 
are particularly partial to posts, palings, and the 
wood-work of houses which has become soft by 
beginning to decay. Wocd actually decayed, or 
affected by dry-rot, they seem to reject as unfit 
for their purposes; but they make no objections 
to any hole previously drilled, provided it be not 
too large; and, like the mason-bees, they not un- 
frequently take possession of an old nest, a few 
repairs being all that in this case is necessary. 
When a new nest is to be constructed, the bee 
proceeds to chisel sufficient space for it out of the 
wood with her jaws. We say her, because the 
task in this instance, as in most others of solitary 
bees and wasps, devolves solely upon the female, 
the male taking no concern in the affair, and 
probably being altogether ignorant that such a 
work is going forward. It is at least certain the 
male is never seen giving his assistance, and he 
seldom if ever approaches the neighbourhood. 
The female carpenter-bee has a task to perform 
no less arduous than the mason-bee; for though 
the wood may be tolerably soft, she can only cut 
