ich were placed at the foot of the nest was two hundred and fifty. Mr.
Smith inclines to the opinion that the hive of Trigona contains several
prolific females, as the great number of workers can only be thus
explained, and M. Guerin found six females in a nest of the Tawny-footed
Melipona (M. fulvipes).

At home, our nearest ally of the true Honey bee, is the Humble bee
(Bombus), of which over forty species are known to inhabit North
America.

The economy of the Humble bee is thus: the queen awakens in early spring
from her winter's sleep under leaves or moss, or in the last year's
nest, and selects a nesting place, generally in an abandoned nest of a
field-mouse, or beneath a stump or sod, and "immediately," according to
Mr. F. W. Putnam,[2] "collects" a small amount of pollen mixed with
honey, and in this deposits from seven to fourteen eggs, gradually
adding to the pollen mass until the first brood is hatched. She does not
wait, however, for one brood to be hatched before laying the eggs of
another, but, as soon as food enough has been collected, she lays the
eggs for a second. The eggs are laid, in contact with each other, in one
cavity of the mass of pollen, with a part of which they are slightly
covered. They are very soon developed; in fact, the lines are nowhere
distinctly drawn between the egg and the larva, the larva and pupa, and
again between the latter and the imago; a perfect series, showing this
gradual transformation of the young to the imago can be found in almost
every nest.

[Illustration: 15. Cell and Eggs of Bombus.]

"As soon as the larvae are capable of motion and commence feeding, they
eat the pollen by which they are surrounded, and, gradually separating,
push their way in various directions. Eating as they move, and
increasing in size quite rapidly, they soon make large cavities in the
pollen mass. When they have attained their full size, they spin a silken
wall about them, which is strengthened by the old bees covering it with
a thin layer of wax, which soon becomes hard and tough, thus forming a
cell (Fig. 15, 1, cell containing a larva, on top of which (2) is a
pollen mass containing three eggs). The larvae now gradually attain the
pupa stage, and remain inactive until their full development. They then
cut their way out, and are ready to assume their duties as workers,
small females, males or queens.

"It is apparent that the irregular disposition of the cells is due to
their being co