Natural history of insects : comprising their architecture, transformations, senses, food, habits--collection, preservation and arrangement . Breeding Cells. The true breeding-cells are contained in severalamorphus masses of brown-coloured wax, varyingin dimensions, but of a somewhat flat and globularshape. On opening any of these, a number of eggsor grubs are found, on whose account the motherbee has collected the masses of wax, which also con-tain a supply of pollen moistened with honey, fortheir subsistence. The number of eggs or grubs found in one sphe-roid of wax varies from three to thir
Natural history of insects : comprising their architecture, transformations, senses, food, habits--collection, preservation and arrangement . Breeding Cells. The true breeding-cells are contained in severalamorphus masses of brown-coloured wax, varyingin dimensions, but of a somewhat flat and globularshape. On opening any of these, a number of eggsor grubs are found, on whose account the motherbee has collected the masses of wax, which also con-tain a supply of pollen moistened with honey, fortheir subsistence. The number of eggs or grubs found in one sphe-roid of wax varies from three to thirty, and the beesin a whole nest seldom exceed sixty. There arethree sizes of bees, of which the females are thelargest; but neither these nor the males are, as inthe case of the hive-bee, exempt from labour. Thefemales, indeed, always found the nests, since theyalone survive the winter, all the rest perishing withcold. In each nest, also, are several females, thatJive in harmony together. CARDER-BEES. 69. Interior views of Carder-bees Nest. The carder-bees may be easily distinguished fromtheir congeners (of the same genus), by being netunhke the colour of the withered moss with whichthey build their nests, having the fore part of theirback a dull orange, and hinder part ringed with dif-ferent shades of greyish yellow. They are not solarge as the common humble-bee {Bombm terrestris^Latr). but rather shorter and thicker in the bodythan the common hive-bee (Jlpis mellijica.) 70 insect architecture. Lapidary-Bees. A bee still more common, perhaps, than the carder,is the orange-tailed bee, or lapidary (Bombus lapi-daria), readily known by its general black colour andreddish orange tail. It builds its nest sometimes instony ground, but prefers a heap of stones such asare gathered off grass fields, or are piled up nearquarries. Unlike the carder, the lapidary carries to itsnest bits of moss, which are very neatly arranged intoa regular oval. These insects associate in theirlabours; an
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookidnaturalhistoryof01bos, booksubjectinsects
