nstructed so peculiarly by the larvae. After the first
brood, composed of workers, has come forth, the queen bee devotes her
time principally to her duties at home, the workers supplying the colony
with honey and pollen. As the queen continues prolific, more workers are
added, and the nest is rapidly enlarged.

"About the middle of summer, eggs are deposited, which produce both
small females and males." ... "All eggs laid after the last of July
produce the large females, or queens, and, the males being still in the
nest, it is presumed that the queens are impregnated at this time, as on
the approach of cold weather all except the queens, of which there are
several in each nest, die."

While the Humble bee in some respects shows much less instinct than the
solitary bees mentioned below, it stands higher in the series, however,
from having workers, as well as males and females, who provide food for
the young. The labors of the Mason bees, and their allies, terminate
after the cell is once constructed and filled with pollen. The eggs are
then left to hatch, and the young care for themselves, though the adult
bee shows greater skill in architecture than the Humble bee. It is thus
throughout nature. Many forms, comparatively low in the scale of life,
astonish us with certain characters or traits, reminding us of beings
much superior, physically and intellectually. The lower forms constantly
reach up and in some way ally themselves with creatures far more highly
organized. Thus the fish-like seal reminds us strikingly of the dog,
both in the form of the head, in its docility and great intelligence
when tamed, and even in its bark and the movements of the head.

[Illustration: 16. Meloe.]

The parasites of the Humble bee are numerous. Such are the species of
Apathus, which so closely resembles the Humble bee itself, that it
requires long study to distinguish it readily. Its habits are not known,
other than that it is found in the nests of its host. It differs from
the Humble bee in having no pollen-basket, showing that its larvae must
feed on the food stored up by their host, as it does not itself collect
it. The mandibles also are not, like those of Bombus, trowel-shaped for
architectural purposes, but acutely triangular, and are probably not
used in building.

The caterpillars of various moths consume the honey and waxen cells; the
two-winged flies, Volucella and Conops, and the larvae of what is either
an Anthomyia or