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diff --git a/33874-8.txt b/33874-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..38b3732 --- /dev/null +++ b/33874-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3250 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Wild Bees, Wasps and Ants, by Edward Saunders + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Wild Bees, Wasps and Ants + and Other Stinging Insects + +Author: Edward Saunders + +Illustrator: Constance A. Saunders + +Release Date: October 18, 2010 [EBook #33874] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WILD BEES, WASPS AND ANTS *** + + + + +Produced by Chris Curnow, Keith Edkins and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + + + + +WILD BEES, WASPS AND ANTS + +[Illustration: PLATE A. + +1. _Formica sanguinea, male._ 2. _Formica sanguinea, female._ 3. _Formica +sanguinea, worker._ 4. _Mutilla europæa, male._ 5. _Mutilla Europæa, +female._ 6. _Cerceris arenaria, female._ 7. _Ammophila sabulosa, female._ +8. _Crabro cribrarius, male._ 9. _Odynerus spinipes, male._ + +[_front._ + +WILD BEES, WASPS +AND ANTS + +And Other Stinging Insects + +By + +EDWARD SAUNDERS + +F.R.S., F.L.S., etc + +With numerous Illustrations in the text, and +Four Coloured Plates by +CONSTANCE A. SAUNDERS + + + +[Illustration] + + + +LONDON +GEORGE ROUTLEDGE & SONS, LIMITED +NEW YORK: E. P. DUTTON & CO. + + * * * * * + + +{v} + +PREFACE + +The object of this little book is to give in as simple a form as possible a +short account of some of the British Wild Bees, Wasps, Ants, etc., +scientifically known as the _Hymenoptera Aculeata_. Of these the +non-scientific public rarely recognizes more than the Hive Bee, the Humble +Bee, the Wasp, and the Hornet, whereas there are about 400 different kinds +to be found in this country, and they can be recognized by any one who is +disposed to make a special study of the group. + +The author has not hesitated to make free use of the experiences of others +in regard to the habits of the insects he describes, and he has not thought +it necessary in each case to make separate acknowledgment of this. He takes +this opportunity of thanking Mr. H. Donisthorpe and Mr. F. W. L. Sladen for +assistance in the chapters on Ants and their Lodgers, and Humble Bees, +respectively. {vi} + +These pages are written only for the non-scientific, as the scientific +entomologist will be already familiar with the elementary facts recorded; +but it is hoped that they may be of interest to lovers of Nature who wish +to know a little about the insects they see round them and how they spend +their lives. Of this knowledge very little exists, as the scraps which have +been here brought together evidence. There is an immense field open for +research and observation, and the writer of this little book will be very +glad if the following pages should encourage any one to take up the subject +and add to our present scanty stock of information. + + EDWARD SAUNDERS. + +ST. ANN'S, WOKING. + + * * * * * + + +{vii} + +CONTENTS + + PAGE + + THE SUBJECT IN GENERAL, 1 + + THE SOLITARY GROUPS, 6 + + THE SOLITARY BEES, 9 + + THE CUCKOO BEES, 14 + + THE FOSSORS, OR DIGGERS, 18 + + THE SOLITARY WASPS, 24 + + THE SOCIAL GROUPS, 28 + + THE ANTS, 31 + + THE SOCIAL WASPS, 35 + + THE HUMBLE BEES, 39 + + THE BEES WITH BIFID TONGUES, 44 + + THE BEES WITH POINTED TONGUES, 48 + + LEAF-CUTTING BEES, 52 + + _Osmia_ AND ITS HABITS, 55 + + A COLONY OF _Anthophora_, 61 + + BEES AND POLLEN-COLLECTING, 65 + + ON BEES' TONGUES, AND HOW THEY SUCK HONEY, 72 + + A DREADFUL PARASITE, 77 + + {viii} + AMONGST THE BEES AT WORK, 81 + + ANTS, THEIR GUESTS, AND THEIR LODGERS, 88 + + HOW CAN AN "ACULEATE" BE RECOGNIZED?, 92 + + MALES AND FEMALES, 95 + + THE VAGARIES OF COLOUR AND STRUCTURE IN THE SEXES, 100 + + THE DISTRIBUTION, RARITY, OR ABUNDANCE OF VARIOUS SPECIES, 105 + + ON BEES' WINGS, 110 + + ON BREEDING ACULEATES, ETC., 113 + + ON COLOUR, 119 + + THE DEVELOPMENT OF INSECTS FROM THE EGG, 124 + + ON STRUCTURE, 132 + + INDEX, 141 + + * * * * * + +{ix} + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT + + PAGE + + Fig. 1. _Bombus_, larva and nymph: after Packard 11 + + " 2. _Ammophila_ 22 + + " 3-4. Spines on the tarsi of female _Ammophila_ 23 + + " 5. Tubular entrance to hole of wasp 25 + + " 6. Basal segments of ants 33 + + " 7. Rose-leaf partially eaten by bees 52 + + " 8. Tufted hairs of hind leg of _Andrena_ 67 + + " 9. Corbicula of humble bee 67 + + " 10-12. Cleaning apparatus of bees 69 + + " 13-18. Hairs of bees, magnified 71 + + " 19. Tongues of bees, magnified 73 + + " 20. Diagram of tongue of bee 75 + + " 21. _Stylops_ 77 + + " 22. _Stylops_ larva in abdominal cavity of bee 78 + + " 23. Antennæ of "Keyhole" wasps 101 + + " 24. Legs of male "Keyhole" wasps 101 + + " 25. Tibia of male _Crabro cribrarius_ 103 + + " 26. Antennæ of male _Crabro cribrarius_ 103 + + " 27. Head of male and female _Crabro clypeatus_ 103 + + " 28. Parts of the insect 133 + + * * * * * + +{xi} + +DESCRIPTION OF THE COLOURED PLATES + +PLATE A + + Figs. 1, 2, 3. _Formica sanguinea Latr._: male, female, and worker. The + host of _Lomechusa_ (p. 89), also a slave-making species; makes + irregular nests of dead leaves, etc., generally against a sloping bank. + + Figs. 4, 5. _Mutilla europæa Linn._: male and female. One of the few + British species of Aculeates where the female is wingless; found in + sandy places running in the sun. + + Fig. 6. _Cerceris arenaria L._: female; burrows in the sand, and + provisions its nest with beetles (p. 20). + + Fig. 7. _Ammophila sabulosa L._: female; burrows in the sand, + provisions its nest with caterpillars, peculiar for its very elongated + waist (p. 22). + + Fig. 8. _Crabro cribrarius L._: male; peculiar for its paddle-like + tibiæ and flattened antennæ (p. 103). + + Fig. 9. _Odynerus spinipes L._: male; peculiar for the form of its + middle femora, which are cut out almost in two semicircles (p. 101); + female makes a tubular entrance to her nest (p. 25). + +PLATE B + + Fig. 10.--_Colletes succinctus L._: female; lines its cells with a + gluey material (p. 44); colonizes in sandy banks; host of _Epeolus + rufipes_ (fig. 19). + + {xii} Fig. 11. _Sphecodes subquadratus Smith_: female; cuckoo of a + species of _Halictus_; female hibernates like its host (p. 17). + + Fig. 12. _Halictus lencozonius Schr._: burrows in the ground; the host + of _Sphecodes pilifrons Thoms_ (p. 17). + + Fig. 13. _Vespa crabro L._: female (the Hornet), nests in hollow trees; + host of the rare beetle _Velleius dilatatus_ (p. 38). + + Fig. 14. _Vespa vulgaris L._: female: one of our commonest wasps; nests + usually in the ground (p. 35); host of a peculiar beetle (_Metoecus + paradoxus_) (p. 38) + + Figs. 15, 16. _Andrena fulva Schr._: male and female; the bee which + burrows in lawns, etc. (p. 9); host of _Nomada ruficornis var. signata_ + (p. 15). + + Fig. 17. _Panurgus ursinus Gmel._: Female; legs loaded with pollen, + burrows in hard sandy paths, etc. (p. 49). Males sleep curled up + amongst the rays of yellow composite flowers. + + Fig. 18. _Nomada ruficornis L. var. signata_: cuckoo of _Andrena fulva_ + (figs. 15 and 16). + + Fig. 19. _Epeolus rufipes Thoms_: female; cuckoo of _Colletes + succinctus_ (fig. 10). + +PLATE C + + Fig. 20.--_Megachile maritima Kirby_: female; burrows in the ground, + makes its cells of pieces of leaves, which it cuts out with its + mandibles; host of _Coelioxys conoidea_. + + Figs. 21, 22. _Coelioxys conoidea Illig_: male and female; cuckoo of + _Megachile maritima_. + + Fig. 23. Burrows of _Megachile Willughbiella Kirby_, in a piece of + rotten willow; each burrow originally contained six cells, but two of + the left-hand series have been lost. + +{xiii} + +PLATE D + + Figs. 24 and 25. _Anthophora pilipes F._: male and female. A spring + bee, the male of which may often be seen in gardens, darting from + flower to flower (p. 81); while the female collects pollen; it forms + large colonies (p. 62). + + Fig. 26. _Melecta armata Pz._: cuckoo of _Anthophora pilipes_. + + Fig. 27. _Anthidium manicatum L._: invests its cells with the down off + the stems of labiate plants, which it strips off with its mandibles (p. + 50). + + Fig. 28. _Osmia bicolor Schr._: female; nests in snail-shells, which it + sometimes covers up with small pieces of grass-stems till a little + mound is formed, resembling a diminutive ants' nest (p. 59). + + Fig. 29. _Bombus terrestris L._: female. One of the commonest of our + Humble Bees; it nests in the ground. It is the host of _Psithyrus + vestalis_, which resembles it very closely in colour; it is this + species that was exhibited by Mr. Sladen at the Maidstone Agricultural + Hall (p. 41). + + Fig. 30. _Bombus lapidarius L._: another common Humble Bee, also an + underground builder; it is the host of _Psithyrus rupestris_. + + Fig. 31. _Psithyrus rupestris F._: female; the cuckoo of _Bombus + lapidarius_, which it closely resembles except for the nearly black + colour of the wings. + + * * * * * + + +{1} + +THE SUBJECT IN GENERAL + +I think I ought here to say why I propose to limit myself to an account of +a certain portion only of the Hymenoptera. The reason for this, in the +first place, is that the section which I have selected is the only one of +which I have any special knowledge; it consists of the bees, wasps, ants +and sandwasps, four groups which make up the stinging section of the +order--or perhaps more accurately, which have poison bags connected with +their egg-laying apparatus or _ovipositor_. Another reason for their +selection lies in their nesting habits; these enable one to get a further +insight into their economy and ways than can be obtained from those of +almost any other group or order--at any rate they make them comparatively +easy to study; one can, so to say, find these little creatures at home, +whereas in most orders there seems to be no definite home to which the {2} +individuals may be traced; a great advantage also in selecting the stinging +groups for study is that they are creatures of the spring and summer, and +of the sunshine, so that the weather which tempts them out to their duties +is of the kind most agreeable to those who wish to investigate their +habits. + +The habits of the hive bee have not been touched on, as so many excellent +treatises have been written on them that any observations here would be +superfluous. + +Although these groups are distinguished by their stinging habits, it is +only the female that possesses a sting--the male is a most harmless +creature and quite incapable of injuring any one. A male wasp or even a +male hornet may be handled with absolute impunity, only it is wise to be +certain as to the sex of the individual before presuming to play with it +too much! A word here may perhaps be said about stinging. People often talk +about a gnat stinging or a stinging fly; it may be difficult to define +exactly what "to sting" means, but the writer has always considered that a +sting is inflicted by the tail end of the creature or a {3} bite by the +mouth. A fly or gnat no doubt inserts its proboscis into one's flesh just +as a wasp does its sting; but the actions of such opposite parts of the +body surely demand distinct names. As we have been alluding to flies it may +not be inappropriate to say here that all the creatures we are going to +consider have four membranous wings except the worker ants and a very few +forms which are comparatively seldom met with. By this character they may +at once be known from flies, which have only two membranous wings. The +large brown "drone flies", so often seen on the windows of our rooms, +especially in autumn, and which most people mistake for hive bees, to which +they certainly bear a considerable general resemblance, may be detected at +once by wanting the two hind wings of the bee. + +The "aculeate", or stinging, Hymenoptera, are divided into sections and +families according to their structure; but the groups which stand out most +clearly in regard to their habits are the solitary and social species, the +predaceous and non-predaceous and the inquilines or cuckoos. {4} + +The vast majority of the aculeate Hymenoptera are what are called +"solitary", i.e. one male and one female alone are interested in the +production of the nest; but there are also three "social" groups--the ants, +the true wasps, and the humble and hive bees. + +These are called social because they form communities and all work together +towards the maintenance of the nest. In the social species there are two +forms of the females--the queens and the workers; these latter have the +ovaries imperfectly developed, and in the humble bees and wasps they only +differ outwardly from the fully developed females or queens by being +smaller. In the ants, however, the workers are wingless, and of a very +different form from that of the queen. The rôle of these workers seems to +be to do the general work of the nest; they have been known to lay fertile +eggs, but the resulting offspring has always been male. + +Between these conditions of solitary and social we know of no actually +intermediate stages. We do not seem to see any attempts on the part of +solitary bees to become social or vice versâ. The only condition known +which {5} could possibly be considered as intermediate is shown in certain +species where a number of individuals make their nests close to each other +in some particular bank, forming a colony. These colonies are sometimes +very extensive, and the burrows of the individual bees very close together; +it has also been shown that the burrows sometimes unite--at the same time +there seems to be no positive evidence that there is any work done in the +colony which could be considered as done for the common good. + + * * * * * + +{6} + +THE SOLITARY GROUPS + +All the solitary kinds appear to feed themselves on vegetable juices, +honey, etc., but there is a well-marked division between those who +provision the cells of their offspring with insects, either fully developed +or in the larval stages, and those who provision them with the pollen of +flowers, honey, etc. The theory is that originally all fed their cells with +insects, but that by degrees the more progressive found that the food which +suited themselves would equally nourish their offspring, and accordingly +provided them with vegetable nourishment. We find no intermediate stages. A +certain class still goes on feeding on the old principle. The members of +this class are known as "_fossors_" or diggers, while those which feed on +the new principle are called "_Anthophila_" or flower-lovers. These are not +very happy names, as many of the _Anthophila_ dig out holes for their nests +just {7} in the same way as the _fossors_ do, and many of the _fossors_ are +found in flowers, apparently enjoying them just as much as a truly +anthophilous species would, although no doubt often with the ulterior +object of capturing some insect for their young! Still these names are +known as representing these two sections all over the world, and therefore +it is better to keep to them even if they are not as descriptive as one +would like them to be. + +The _fossors_, or "diggers", have all comparatively short and bifid +tongues, and have, as a rule, little in the way of hairy covering, and what +hairs they have are simple and only in very rare instances branched or +feather-like. The hind legs of the females are not modified in any way so +as to enable them to collect pollen, their legs are usually long and +slender, and they are admirably adapted to their life habits of hunting +spiders, insects, etc., for their young. + +On the other hand, the _Anthophila_ or "flower-lovers", are specially +adapted for pollen collecting. Their tongues vary from a short form like +that of some _fossors_ to the long tongues of the humble bees. Their hairs +are always plumose {8} or branched on some part of the body and the hind +legs of the females in most species are provided on the tibia or shin with +a special brush on which pollen may be collected. In some of the +long-tongued bees, however, this brush occurs on the underside of the body +instead of on the tibia. The pollen-collecting arrangements of the +different genera of the _Anthophila_ and the corresponding organs for +cleaning off the pollen again are amongst the most interesting instances of +modification and adaptation: some of the more striking of these will be +mentioned later on. (See pp. 65 _sqq._) + + * * * * * + +{9} + +THE SOLITARY BEES + +The life-history of an ordinary pair of solitary bees is, roughly, as +follows: I will take for an example one of the spring species of _Andrena_. +Many people know the little red bee, which for some apparently +unaccountable reason suddenly appears in myriads on their lawn or gravel +path, throwing up little mounds of finely powdered earth--in this respect +being quite different from worm casts, which are formed of wet mould and +the particles of which cling together--sometimes causing considerable alarm +as to the possible effect on the lawn. These have hatched out from burrows +made by their parents in the previous year, the mouths of which have been +filled up with earth and therefore are quite invisible till the newly +fledged bees gnaw their way out. They, in their turn, are now making fresh +burrows for their own broods; possibly they infested some one else's lawn +the year before or were only in comparatively small {10} numbers on the +lawn under notice and so passed unrecognized. They may safely be left +alone, as they never seem to breed many consecutive years in one such +locality: probably the treatment of a lawn does not suit them, mowing and +rolling upsetting their arrangements. We will now consider these +arrangements. The female bee, so soon as she realizes that she is charged +with the duty of providing for her future offspring, makes a burrow in the +ground, and the earth thrown up from the tunnel forms the little heap which +is so observable; this burrow varies in depth from 6 to 12 inches and has +short lateral branches; each of these she shapes, more or less, into the +form of a cell, provisions it with a small mass of pollen mixed with honey +for the maintenance of the larva when hatched, and lays her egg; she then +seals up that cell and proceeds to the next, and in this way fills the +burrow up until pretty near the surface. The bee caterpillar when hatched +is a white grub-like creature which, after devouring the food provided for +it, becomes more or less torpid; it then makes its final change of skin, +after how long a period is probably uncertain, and appears in the nymph +stage. {11} [Illustration: FIG. 1. Bombus, larva and nymph: after Packard.] +This stage corresponds to the chrysalis of a moth or butterfly, the +creature being shortened up and rather more like the perfect insect +compacted into the smallest form possible. People are often misled into the +idea that the caterpillar forms the chrysalis over its former self, whereas +the chrysalis has been all the time forming inside the caterpillar and only +shows itself when the final skin is shed; of course some caterpillars spin +a cocoon over themselves before they change their skin, but then the true +chrysalis is found inside the cocoon. A curious fact connected with the +change from the nymph to the perfect insect is that this takes place +sometimes as early as August in the year preceding their appearance; so +that cells dug up in August may contain fully fledged insects which are not +due to appear till April or May of the following year. It is wonderful also +how long life can be {12} sustained by these creatures in the "full-fed +larva" condition. Some years ago I collected a number of pierced bramble +stems in order to breed out some of the small "sandwasps" which nest in +them. On opening them in May, when the perfect insects are generally ready +to appear, I found that several of the larvæ had rather shrunk up and had +not changed into nymphs. These I left in the stems, covering them up again, +and they appeared as perfect insects in the May of the following year. + +The account given of the nesting habits of the above _Andrena_ of our +lawns, etc., is more or less true of nearly all the solitary bees. Their +methods vary, some burrow in the ground, some in old wood, some in snail +shells, some in bramble stems or straws or the hollow stems of various +plants, some in holes or crevices in walls, etc., and their methods of +building their cells vary exceedingly: all of these are of great interest +and some display an ingenuity which is quite surprising. Of these special +nesting habits some of the most striking will be mentioned later on. + +Before leaving these general remarks on the {13} solitary bees the habits +of two genera must be specially noticed, as they differ in an essential +point from those of the others. These are known to entomologists under the +names of _Halictus_ and _Sphecodes_. + +In most species of these the males and females of the new brood are not +hatched out till after midsummer, and no work is done for the provisioning +of new burrows that autumn; but the female, after having undertaken the +duties of maternity, hibernates, i.e. goes back into a burrow and lives +there till the next spring, the males dying off before the winter. In the +spring the [female] wakes up and does the necessary work for the future +brood just as any ordinary spring bee would--but there are no attendant +males--the duties of that sex having been performed in the autumn. The +larvæ contained in these burrows hatch out after midsummer and therefore +never spend a winter in the ground. In this respect they resemble the +social bees and wasps, about which more hereafter; in the meanwhile a few +words must be said about the cuckoos or inquilines, which are perhaps the +most interesting creatures of all. + + * * * * * + +{14} + +THE CUCKOO BEES + +These cuckoos live at the expense of their hosts. The mother of the +industrial brood makes her cell and provisions it, and lays her egg. The +cuckoo bee manages to enter also and lay her egg in the same cell, the +usual result being that the cuckoo devours most of the food instead of the +rightful offspring, which gradually gets starved and dies, the cuckoo +appearing in its place; but there have been cases, how frequent they are is +difficult to say, in which both offsprings have emerged. + +The whole problem of the relationships between host and cuckoo is most +interesting. In some cases the cuckoos are so like their hosts that it is +difficult to tell one from the other, in others they are so unlike that it +is difficult to trace any resemblance between them. There are a great +number of different kinds of cuckoos, and most of them select a special +host to associate {15} with, and are never found except with that species. +There are, however, cases of cuckoos which visit the nests of more than one +host, and cases of hosts which are visited by several kinds of cuckoos. In +the short-tongued bees, with the exception of _Halictus_ and _Sphecodes_, +the cuckoos are quite unlike their hosts both in form and colour. In the +_Andrenas_ (the lawn bee being one of them) the hosts are clothed with +reddish, or brown and black, hairs, and are of a more or less stout build +(pl. B, 15, 16). The cuckoos are elegant in shape, almost devoid of hairs, +and most of them are striped with yellow or brown across the body so that +they present a wasp-like appearance (pl. B, 18). Species more unlike one +another than host and cuckoo one could hardly imagine; still this stranger +seems to get access to the nest of its host without opposition. In a colony +of _Andrena_ one may see the cuckoos (which rejoice in the name of _Nomada_ +or wanderers) flying about among the females of the industrious bee, and no +alarm or concern appears to be felt by the latter. As we go up in the scale +of bees, i.e. towards the more specialized, and arrive at those with longer +tongues, the {16} cuckoos are found as a rule to resemble their hosts more +closely, both in colour and structure, and when we reach the social genus +_Bombus_ (i.e. the humble bees) we find the cuckoos so like their hosts +(pl. D, 30, 31) that even entomologists of experience mistake one for the +other. _Apis_ (the hive bee) has no cuckoo. It seems to be theoretically +probable that both cuckoo and host once originated from common parents; +this is suggested by the similarity of structure of certain parts of both +host and cuckoo, even in cases where they are otherwise most dissimilar. +_Andrena_ and _Nomada_, for instance, which are very unlike, as stated +above, agree in both having very feeble stings and in possessing three +conspicuous spines on the upper and posterior edge of the orbit of the +larva. Also, although _Andrena_ the host has a short tongue, and _Nomada_, +its cuckoo, a long one, the appendages (_labial palpi_) of the latter's +tongue are framed on the same plan as those of the tongue of _Andrena_, and +are quite unlike those of the other long-tongued bees. On the other hand, +the cuckoos of the social species resemble them so closely in structure as +well as {17} appearance that it is more necessary to search for points of +difference than of similarity. There is only one case known of a cuckoo +wasp, and that resembles its host even more closely than do the cuckoos of +the humble bees. All these points certainly suggest the probability that +the social bees and wasps and their cuckoos adopted different habits at a +much more recent date than the solitary species, and therefore have not had +so much time to become differentiated in structure. The only short-tongued +bees which have cuckoos of similar structure are the species of _Halictus_ +(pl. B, 12); their cuckoos, _Sphecodes_ (pl. B, 11), are closely allied to +them, but then _Halictus_ and _Sphecodes_ are most peculiar genera; +although short-tongued, their females spend the winter in the earth, as do +the social bees and wasps (see p. 13), and they colonize largely, which may +prove to be a step towards socialism. + + * * * * * + +{18} + +THE FOSSORS OR DIGGERS + +In many respects the insects of this section adopt the same methods as the +solitary bees so far as the construction of their nests is concerned, but +the food brought home for their offspring is animal instead of vegetable. +In order to supply their larvæ with "fresh meat" these little creatures, +when they have captured a suitable prey, sting it in such a way that it +becomes paralyzed, but does not die; after provisioning a cell with the +necessary number of these paralytics, the mother lays her egg on one of +them or amongst them, and closes up the cell. In consequence of this +wonderful maternal instinct, foresight, or whatever the faculty may be, the +larva when hatched finds fresh food ready for consumption. The various +species provision their nests with different kinds of foods, and some +appear to be most fastidious in their selection, and are said never to err +in choosing {19} species of some particular family, thereby displaying a +discernment worthy of any advanced entomologist. Some provision their cells +with beetles, some with grasshoppers, others with spiders, caterpillars, +plant lice, etc. + +The strength possessed by the female fossor must be proportionately +enormous, as she can bring back to her burrow, after paralyzing them, +insects many times her own size. It is a most interesting sight to see the +excitement and flurry of the captor as it tries to drag along some huge +prey to its nest. I remember seeing one dragging along a good-sized +caterpillar, of a noctuid moth, over rather rough ground: the poor creature +had a difficult job; it had to go backwards itself, and pull the body of +the caterpillar, after it--its behaviour was very much like that of an ant +which has a large burden; at times it would loose its hold of it and try it +from some other quarter; however, by degrees, by pulling and tugging, the +prey was safely brought home, but the force expended must have been very +great. Many species, however, hunt insects of much smaller size than +themselves, and it is those which take a fancy to grasshoppers and {20} +caterpillars which seem to be the most doughty in deeds of force. One, a +very rare kind in this country, sets its affection especially on the honey +bee as a prey; the two insects are about equal in size, but the hive bee +must be a dangerous foe to attack, and one would have thought as likely to +sting its captor as its captor would be to sting it; also one would imagine +that a hive bee, unless thoroughly paralyzed, would be a dangerous subject +for a juvenile larva to commence making a meal upon! but whether the +venture ever turns out unsatisfactorily there are no data to show, so far +as I am aware. The larvæ must vary very much in their tastes; one can +imagine that a nice juicy caterpillar, or even a good fat grasshopper, may +be appetizing and easily assimilated, but one can equally fancy that the +larvæ, who wake up to find their food consisting of small hard beetles, may +feel more or less resentment against their parents' ideas of dainties for +the young! Still they seem to thrive on it, and come out eventually as +exact likenesses of their parents. A large number of the fossors inhabit +dry sandy wastes, such as the dunes along the sea coast at Deal, Lowestoft, +{21} etc.; many of these, when they leave their burrows, throw up some sand +over the hole so as completely to cover it; how these insects find the spot +again after a lengthy chase after spiders or other prey is a marvel; and +yet those who have observed carefully say that they come home from long +distances with unerring precision. No sense of which we have any knowledge, +however accentuated, seems to explain this. To be able to arrive back at a +home in an extensive arid sandy plain, where no outward sign indicates its +whereabouts, must surely require perception of a different nature from any +of those with which we are endowed. Some fossors are subject to the +depredations of cuckoos, just as the solitary bees are, but their cuckoos +are rarely of aculeate origin. The only ones which I have had any +opportunity of studying are the species which nest in bramble stems. The +cuckoos which associate with them are some of the smaller jewel flies and +_Ichneumons_: the habits of both these differ from those of the aculeate +cuckoos, the jewel flies devouring the larva of the aculeate and the +_Ichneumon_ laying its eggs in it. The fossors {22} [Illustration: FIG. 2.] +vary exceedingly in size, shape and colour. Our largest species are about +an inch long and our smallest about the eighth of an inch, nearly all +having the body where it joins the thorax constricted into a very narrow +waist; this is sometimes of considerable length. In one genus known to +entomologists by the name _Ammophila_ (fig. 2) or "lover of the sand", the +waist is practically the longest part of the body, so that looking at one +sideways as it flies along, one could almost be deceived into thinking that +there were two insects, one following the other (cf. pl. A, fig. 7). In +colour, there seem to be three dominant schemes: Black (cf. pl. B, fig. +17); black with a red band across the body (cf. pl. A, fig. 7); and black +banded with yellow, like a wasp (cf. pl. A, figs. 6 and 8, etc.) In some +the yellow bands may not be complete, and appear only as spots on each side +of the body segments, or the red band may be almost obliterated, or the +black species may {23} [Illustration: FIG. 3.] [Illustration: FIG. 4.] be +more or less variegated with yellow spots on the head and thorax, but as a +general rule all our species fall into one or other of these colour +schemes. The females of some of our sand frequenting species have beautiful +combs on their front feet, each joint of the tarsi having one or more long +spines on its external side (figs. 3 and 4). These are of importance to +them in their burrowing, as they enable them to move with one kick of their +front leg a considerable amount of the dry sand in which they make their +nests. Although sandy commons, etc., are the resort of many fossors, others +may be found burrowing in wood or in hard pathways or banks; in fact, like +most other insects, some of their members may be found almost anywhere. + + * * * * * + +{24} + +THE SOLITARY WASPS + +The ordinary wasps are acquaintances of every one, but the solitary or +keyhole wasps are not so well known, although they are far from uncommon. +They are little narrow black insects striped across the body with yellow, +belonging to the genus _Odynerus_ (pl. A, 9), and might hardly be +recognized as belonging to the same family as the true or social wasps. +Still they have considerable powers of stinging, and fold their wings +lengthwise when at rest like their larger relatives. I dare say some people +may have noticed that a wasp's wing sometimes assumes a narrow straight +form, quite unlike what it is when expanded. This is due to the wasp being +able to fold its wing lengthwise like a fan. The wasp tribe are, so far as +I know, the only stinging Hymenoptera which have this power. + +[Illustration: FIG. 5.] + +They make their nests of mud, etc., in crevices of walls, in banks, in +plant stems, and often {25} in most inconvenient places, such as keyholes, +etc. Some of the solitary wasps have a very curious habit of making a +tubular entrance to their hole. These may sometimes be seen projecting from +sandy banks. The tube is composed of a series of little pellets of mud, +which the wasp by degrees, with the help of its mouth secretions, sticks +together till a sort of openwork curved tube of sometimes an inch long is +formed (fig. 5). This curve is directed downwards, so that the wasp has to +creep up it before reaching the actual orifice of the nest. It looks as if +the first shower of rain would wash the whole structure away, and I have +very little doubt that it often does so. The object of these tubes is +difficult to appreciate. There is a bee on the continent which makes +straight chimneys above its holes, so as to raise the entrance above the +surrounding herbage; possibly these solitary wasps once required {26} their +tubes also for some such purpose, and have continued on truly conservative +lines to build them long after all usefulness has passed away from the +habit; anyhow they are very interesting and beautiful structures. I have +found the tubes of one of our rarer species projecting perpendicularly out +of the level sand, but even then the tubes were curved over at the end, so +that the wasp had to go up and down again before entering its actual hole. +The Rev. F. D. Morice in 1906 found the tubes of the same species in +numbers projecting from the walls of an old stuccoed cottage situated close +to the locality where I found mine, so it is evident that more than one +situation suits its requirements. The solitary wasps provision their cells +with caterpillars, stinging them in the same way as the fossors do. One +very peculiar genus, of one species only in this country, has its body much +narrowed at the waist by reason of the constricted form of the basal +segment; it makes a little round nest of clay which it suspends from a twig +of heather or other plant. This species is rarely met with except on the +heathery commons of Surrey, Hants, Dorset, etc. The {27} solitary wasps are +subject to the attacks of cuckoos belonging to the jewel fly or _Chrysis_ +tribe; these behave differently from those belonging to the aculeate +groups, as their larvæ do not eat the food laid up for the wasp, but wait +till the wasp larva has finished feeding up, and then devour it. Unlike as +these cuckoos are to their hosts in their brilliant metallic coloration, +etc., they have structural characters curiously like theirs, so that even +here a common parentage in bygone generations may be reasonably suspected. +At present, however, they are placed, except by a few systematists, in +quite distinct families of the Hymenoptera. + +In general form these solitary wasps resemble the fossors more than the +bees; they have mostly short tongues (I think all our British ones have), +and their hairs are simple or more or less spirally twisted. + + * * * * * + +{28} + +THE SOCIAL GROUPS + +The social bees are certainly the most highly specialized of the +_Anthophila_, and the social wasps of the _Diploptera_ or insects with +folded wings. The ants occupy a less definite position: they would seem to +be the outcome of specialization among the fossors, only they feed their +young with vegetable juices and not with animal as the latter do. They are +always kept as a separate tribe under the name _Heterogyna_, but for our +purposes the better known word "ant" will suffice. + +The hive bee and the social wasps are the only British Hymenoptera which +adopt the hexagonal cell-formation in their nests, the bee fashioning its +cells in wax, the wasps and hornet in masticated wood or paper. The +formation of ants' nests is far less regular, being composed of irregular +passages, called galleries, and open spaces, no doubt built on a plan, but +probably {29} in respect of plan no two nests are exactly alike. The humble +bees again differ from either in their nesting habits: the female in the +spring seeks out a mouse's nest or other suitable foundation of moss, etc., +in or on the surface of the ground, according to the species. This she +lines with wax, deposits a heap of pollen, and lays her eggs in it. She +also makes waxen cells for honey, but these are not hexagonal and +symmetrical as are those of the hive bee, but are more like little pots, +and are known as "honey pots". + +It must be borne in mind that the economic arrangements of the wasps and +humble bees only last for a single season, whereas those of the ant and +hive bee exist for many years. In consequence of this the swarming habits +belong exclusively to the ants and hive bee. That of the hive bee is well +known to all, and most people must have observed the swarms of male and +female ants which fill the air on some sultry summer or autumn evening. +Thousands of these must perish, but a certain number of the females accept +the responsibility of starting a fresh nest, and so the ant population is +kept up. {30} It will be seen from these remarks that the three social +groups are very distinct in their methods of nest making, and have really +very little in common except the social habit. The humble bees have their +cuckoos; one species of wasp has a cuckoo, and there is a possible case of +a cuckoo amongst the continental ants, but this has not yet been observed +in this country. The ants harbour so many species of insects in their nests +besides their own family that it is difficult to form an idea as to whether +the case in question is at all analogous to that of host and cuckoo in the +other aculeates or not. + + * * * * * + +{31} + +THE ANTS + +These little creatures are probably the most intelligent of all the +insects--and yet at times they seem to wander about almost aimlessly. A +worker may be found with an insect or something which it is eagerly +dragging along and drops probably from fear. It appears anxious to regain +its hold of it, but goes about in all sorts of wrong directions before it +again finds it, it may be to make sure its enemy is clear away before it +resumes operations, but the effect to the ordinary onlooker is one of sheer +incapacity--at the same time the wonderful habits of the tribe, the way in +which they keep plant lice for their larvæ, their methods of carrying each +other, their nest-building, and the slave-making instincts of some of the +species, show an intelligence surpassed by no other family of insects. +Their nests are formed in very various ways: the same species even will +sometimes nest under a stone and sometimes make ant hills; some {32} of the +large species make their nests of huge heaps of fir needles, and number 400 +to 500 thousand in one nest--others live in quite small communities, +nesting in bramble stems, old rotten wood, moss, etc. One little species, +rare with us, lives in the walls of other ants' nests, just as mice live in +the walls of our houses; another quite small species lives apparently on +friendly terms with the common large red or horse ant, and may be found +running about amongst them, on and in their nests, but, so far as I know, +nothing is known as to how its young are reared. There is a curious +division in the family between the ants that have true stings and those +which have not. The large ants of our fir woods can bite and are able to +eject poison through the apical opening of the body into the wound they +create, but these as well as the larger and smaller black ants and some +others have the sting undeveloped, whereas some of our small species have a +sting which they can use with considerable effect; this difference in habit +is accompanied by a difference in the structure in the basal segments of +the body. In the stingless species the basal segment is reduced {33} +[Illustration: FIG. 6] to a flat upright transverse scale (fig. 6, 1); in +the stinging ants two segments at the base are reduced to nodes (fig. 6, +3). There is an exception in the case of one little rare genus, _Ponera_, +which has only the basal abdominal segment reduced to a scale although a +much thicker scale than in the others (fig. 6, 2), and yet which has a +distinct sting. These arrangements give the body very free movement so that +the tail can be bent forward till it reaches the head. Another curious +distinction between the stingers and non-stingers is that the larvæ of the +former spin cocoons and those of the latter do not; the larvæ of _Formica +fusca_ occasionally do not do so, but they are an exception to the rule. +Cocoon spinning seems to involve the larvæ in some difficulties, as without +the help of the worker ants they are often unable to extract themselves +from their prison. This is a condition which does not, I believe, exist in +other groups. In the stingless ants there is a curious difference in habit +between the {34} species of the genus _Formica_, where, according to Forel, +the workers do not follow in line over unknown ground, and frequently carry +one another, the one carried being rolled up under the head of the other, +and the species of _Lasius_, where the workers follow one another in line, +but never carry each other. Among the stinging ants another method of +carrying occurs in certain genera. The porter seizes the one she wishes to +carry by the external edge of one of her mandibles and then throws her over +her back, so that she lies along the back of her porter with her ventral +aspect uppermost and her legs and antennæ folded as in the nymph state. +Neither of these methods sounds very comfortable, but then probably an +ant's idea of comfort and our own may be very different. + +Lord Avebury, in his _Ants, Bees and Wasps_, tells us that he has known a +male of _Myrmica ruginodis_ live for nine months, although no doubt, as he +says, they generally die almost immediately, and he has known queen ants to +live for seven years, and workers, which he had in his nest, for six years. + + * * * * * + +{35} + +THE SOCIAL WASPS + +Of these we have only seven different kinds, and with the exception of the +hornet they are all very much alike. One often hears people say that they +have seen such a large wasp that they think it must have been a hornet, but +no one who has ever seen a hornet could mistake a wasp for one. A hornet is +_red-brown_ with yellow markings (pl. B, 13), a wasp is _black_ and yellow, +and altogether a less formidable-looking creature (pl. B, 14). Even a queen +wasp is not so large as a small worker hornet. The hornet nests in hollow +trees, our three commoner wasps nest, as a rule, in the ground, but +occasionally in outhouses, under roofs, etc. One of the others as a rule +makes its nest in shrubs, but occasionally in the ground, another always +nests in a bush or shrub, preferring a gooseberry or currant bush, and the +only remaining one is a cuckoo of one of the ground species. The +gooseberry-bush {36} wasp is not a common species in the south, but in the +midlands and north it is abundant. Wasps will eat most things, but are +especially fond of syrups and sweets. One species, _Vespa sylvestris_, +which seldom enters our houses, is very partial to the flowers of +_Scrophularia_ (Figwort). One rarely finds a plant of this in full blossom +without finding its attendant wasps. I have seen other species of wasps +also visiting it, but _sylvestris_ is practically sure to be there. The +diet which wasps provide for their larvæ is probably a mixed one, but +consists largely of insects. Dr. Ormerod says that a microscopic +examination of the contents of a larval stomach shows "the mass to consist +of scales, hairs and other fragments of insects, hairs of vegetables and +other substances less easy of recognition." + +[Illustration: PLATE B. + +10. _Colletes succinctus_, _female._ 11. _Sphecodes subquadratus_, +_female._ 12. _Halictus leucozonius_, _female._ 13. _Vespa crabro_, +_female._ 14. _Vespa vulgaris_, _female._ 15. _Andrena fulva_, _male._ 16. +_Andrena fulva_, _female._ 17. _Panurgus banksianus_, _female._ 18. _Nomada +ruficornis_, _var. signata_, _female._ 19. _Epeolus rufipes_, _female._ + +[_face p. 36._ ] + +{37} Wasps do not store honey in their nest; the papery nature of their +cells would make such storage impossible. I dare say some of my readers +will have noticed wasps sitting in the sun on a wooden paling busily +engaged apparently eating something--they are really pulling off little +fibres of wood which they chew up into a substance fitted for the walls of +their cells; they will also chew paper, and the experiment has been tried +of giving them coloured papers, which resulted in stripes of colour +appearing in their nests. The different species vary somewhat in the +architecture of their nests; but they are built very much on the same +general plan. The population of some underground nests is very large. The +Rev. G. A. Crawshay estimated the number in a large nest of _Vespa +vulgaris_, which he took on September 20, 1904, at about 12,000; of these +he actually counted, including eggs and larvæ, 11,370, and estimated the +rest as having left the nest and escaped, so that anyhow the computation +cannot be far wrong. This, however, was probably a very large nest. The +cuckoo wasp (_Vespa austriaca_), formerly known as _V. arborea_, is an +associate of _Vespa rufa_; its habits had been suspected for a long time, +but Mr. Robson set all doubts at rest by finding the nymphs of the cuckoo +in the actual nest of _rufa_. It is a rare species in the south, but far +from uncommon as one goes north, and also in Ireland, where the +relationship of the host and cuckoo have been {38} carefully studied by +Prof. Carpenter and Mr. Pack Beresford. _Vespa vulgaris_ has a beetle +parasite, but this is somewhat of a rarity. This creature _Metoecus +paradoxus_ lays its egg in the cell of the wasp, and enters the body of the +larva, eventually entirely devouring it. The hornet also has a beetle +associate, but this is a great rarity. It is a large black species of the +"Devil's coach horse" or "Cock tail" tribe (_Velleius dilatatus_), but in +what relation it stands to the hornet beyond inhabiting its nest is not +known. + + * * * * * + +{39} + +THE HUMBLE BEES + +Of these beautiful creatures we have thirteen kinds in this country. Their +velvety clothing and bright colours make them the favourites of most +people. They are most industrious and may be seen on the wing from early +morning often till quite late on summer evenings, whereas the solitary bees +do not, as a rule, commence work till nine or ten in the morning, except in +very hot weather, and generally retire about four or five p.m. There is an +idea prevalent that humble bees do not sting, but this is fallacious. They +can sting pretty severely, but I do not think they are so ready to use +their defensive weapon as a wasp or hive bee is. The length of the tongue +in these creatures makes them of great value to the farmer and gardener, as +they can fertilize the red clover and probably other flowers which require +a longer tongue to reach the nectary than is possessed by the hive bee. +{40} In New Zealand, when first the red clover was introduced from this +country, it was found impossible to fertilize it, and humble bees had to be +sent out. Now they are established there its fertilization is carried on +quite successfully. The humble bees are divided into two natural groups, +the underground species, i.e. those that make a subterranean nest, and the +carder bees, as they have been called, which make a nest on the surface of +the ground. The former live in much larger communities and are far more +aggressive and pugnacious than the latter. They also feed their young, +according to Mr. F. W. L. Sladen, of Ripple Court, in a different way. The +carder bees "form little pockets or pouches of wax at the side of a +wax-covered mass of growing larvæ into which the workers drop the pellets +of pollen direct from their hind tibiæ. The pollen storers, on the +contrary, store the newly gathered pollen in waxen cells, made for the +purpose, or in old cocoons, specially set apart to receive it, from which +it is taken and given to the larvæ mixed with honey through the mouths of +the nurse-bees as required." As the author remarks, the methods of the +underground {41} species more resemble those of the hive bee than do those +of the carder bees. Mr. Sladen has made many experiments in trying to +domesticate humble bees, and succeeded so far with _Bombus terrestris_ (pl. +D, 29, our common black and yellow banded species with a tawny tail) as to +get it to breed in captivity, and in 1899 was able to show nests in full +work at the Maidstone agricultural show, the bees coming in and out of the +building to their nest. An interesting case of one of the carder bees +(_Bombus agrorum_) is recorded by F. Smith. It invaded a wren's nest, +heaping up its pollen, etc., amongst the eggs of the bird, till the parent +bird was forced to desert the nest. The underground species are more +subject to the attacks of cuckoos than the carder bees. Altogether the +humble bees afford an excellent subject for study, as they appear to be +amenable to treatment, and to any one who could give time and careful +attention to them many interesting problems connected with them and not yet +understood might have light thrown upon them. Dead humble bees are often +found in numbers in a mutilated state, under lime trees. These {42} have +been caught after they have filled themselves with honey, and become torpid +in consequence, by the great tomtit and possibly other birds. The bird +pecks a hole in the insect's thorax, enjoys the honey it has eaten and then +drops the quivering body which falls to the ground. I once had the +opportunity of seeing this slaughter going on, and was able to detect the +great tomtit as the murderer. + +In colour the humble bees vary remarkably, the variation occurring chiefly +in the females. This variation is not so noticeable in this country, +although in many species even here the variability is very great, but when +we trace a common species such as _terrestris_, which varies very little +here, over a large area such as the Palæarctic region its liveries are so +diverse that its females have been treated as belonging to many different +species. In the Siberian district its yellow bands become of a pale, almost +whitish or straw colour, and the whole appearance of the insect is altered. +If, instead of going north, we go to the Mediterranean region we find a +large, fine form tolerably common, with bright yellow hairs on the legs. In +Corsica {43} again we find a quite different form; entirely black except +for the bright red hairs on the apex of the body, and bright red tibiæ, +clothed with red hairs. In the Canaries another coloration occurs: the +whole insect is black with the exception of the apex of the body which is +clothed with white hairs; but in all these the male varies comparatively +little. In the Siberian and Canary forms it resembles the female, but in +the others it varies very little from some varieties we find here. A rather +similar series of varieties occurs in _Bombus hortorum_, another species +little liable to variation here. In Italy and south-east Europe a form with +entirely black body and black wings occurs, and in Corsica a black form +with reddish hairs on the apical segments. The male keeps throughout very +constant to its normal coloration. The tendency to vary towards an entirely +black form seems to exist in nearly all the species, although in Britain +black varieties of some are very rare. + + * * * * * + +{44} + +THE BEES WITH BIFID TONGUES + +In this country we have only two genera in which the tongue is bifid at the +apex, and on this account they are kept together as close allies in our +classification. They are, however, very different in general appearance. +One of these groups is called _Colletes_, on account of its habit of lining +its cells with a gluey material, the other, _Prosopis_, on account of the +markings on the face. The various kinds of _Colletes_ are densely clothed +on the head and thorax with brownish hairs, and the segments of the body +have whitish bands composed of a dense, tight-fitting, duvet of hairs (pl. +B, 10). There is in this country only one exception, a large insect like a +hive bee, but rarely met with, its headquarters being the Wallasey +Sandhills near Liverpool, and other localities in Lancashire. All the +species tend to colonize; some building in huge colonies {45} in sandy +cuttings, etc. They are preyed upon by a pretty little cuckoo bee called +_Epeolus_ (pl. B, 19), which is black, ornamented with brownish red and +whitish spots. One of our best known species, _Colletes fodiens_, can often +be found in abundance on the heads of ragwort along the sea-coast in July. + +The other genus _Prosopis_ is outwardly entirely unlike _Colletes_: its +species are nearly all very small coal-black insects, with scarcely any +noticeable hairs, rather unusually narrow and cylindrical in form; they +emit a peculiar, agreeably scented fluid when handled; in the males the +face is almost always white or yellow, in the females there is generally a +yellow spot on each side near the eye. These little creatures are +especially fond of burrowing in bramble stems. They like those which have +been cut off in trimming the hedges, because in them the pith is exposed +and they can burrow their way into it without gnawing through the wood. If +any one, going along a hedge which has been trimmed, containing a lot of +brambles, in the autumn or winter, would examine the cut-off ends they +would soon find some with holes in them. These {46} may be the work of +_Prosopis_, but there are other bees and fossors which also burrow in this +way. So the stems should be brought home and opened. Then the _Prosopis_ +cells may be known by the fine membranous pellicle which surrounds them, +but possibly even then a little jewel-bee cuckoo may be found in possession +of the cell, instead of the rightful owner. When these little bees emerge +they are generally to be found on wild mignonette, bramble flowers or those +of the wild parsley tribe. Some are very common, others of great rarity. +The males of this genus seem to have a peculiar tendency to develop +eccentricities in the shape of the first joint of the antennæ, or feelers, +some having it expanded and concave, others rounded but thickened towards +the apex; in only one British species, _P. cornuta_, does the female show +any special peculiarity of form, but in this the face is produced on each +side between the eyes into a distinct horn-shaped process. In the females +there is scarcely any indication of pollen brush, and for this reason they +used to be considered as possessors of cuckoo instincts, but there is now +no doubt of their industrious habits; but {47} there is no other genus of +industrious bees in this country, with the exception of _Ceratina_, with so +little specialization for pollen collecting. + + * * * * * + +{48} + +THE BEES WITH POINTED TONGUES + +All the genera, except the two mentioned in the last chapter, belong to +this section, which comprises a variety of very different styles of bees, +beginning with the short spear-shape-tongued species and ascending to the +long-tongued species, which are considered to culminate in the hive bee. +The habits of these genera vary very greatly in some respects; special +notice has been or will be given of _Halictus_ (pl. B, 12) and _Sphecodes_ +(B, 11), _Andrena_ (B, 15, 16), _Nomada_ (B, 18) and the other cuckoos, +_Osmia_ (D, 28) and _Anthophora_ (D, 24, 25) and the leaf-cutting bees, but +there are several other genera which deserve a passing notice, although +their habits are not so peculiar as those of the specially selected ones. +_Cilissa_, which is a very close ally of _Andrena_, is peculiar in having +the hairs of the tongue erect and arranged almost in bottle-brush fashion. +Its habits are much like those of {49} _Andrena_. _Dasypoda_, so called on +account of the enormously long hairs of the pollen brushes of the legs in +the female, is one of our most beautiful bees; it is of moderate size, a +little more than half an inch long, with a brown haired thorax, and a black +body with white apical bands on the segments; the hind legs are rather +unusually long and the brush is composed of very long bright fulvous hairs, +and when the bee returns home laden with pollen it is, as F. Smith says, +"sufficiently singular to attract the attention of the most apathetic +observer." It burrows in sandy places much after the fashion of _Andrena_, +etc. The male is a different looking insect, entirely covered with +yellowish hairs. _Panurgus_ (pl. B, 17) is a curious genus of coal-black +bees, whose females have bright yellow pollen brushes on their hind legs; +they visit yellow composite flowers and the males often sleep curled up +amongst their rays; they are most active bees, and burrow generally in hard +pathways. I was watching a large colony of one of the species near Chobham +in the end of June--they were burrowing in a gravel path, under which the +soil was of a black sandy nature; the path was scattered all over with +little black {50} hillocks of sand, and seemed alive with bees. It was +showery weather, and occasionally the hillocks were washed nearly flat and +a lot of sand must have entered their burrows--however, as soon as the sun +came out again they cleaned out their holes and returned to their work. +_Panurgus_ is most businesslike in its pollen collecting; it flies in a +rapid headlong way into a flower, and seems to do its best to bury itself, +with a remarkable amount of action as if it was in a great hurry, and often +bustles out of it again almost immediately and goes on to the next. Its +methods suggest that it does more work in five minutes than any other bee +would do in ten. + +Another genus, _Anthidium_ (pl. D, 27), this time one of the long-tongued +bees, is peculiar in having the male larger than the female. Both sexes are +black, variegated with yellow markings and spots, but the male is more +ornate in this respect than the female and also has a peculiarly shaped +body, which is unusually flat, curving downwards towards the apex, which is +armed with five teeth, two bent ones on the sixth segment and three on the +seventh. The female collects pollen on the underside of its body and +collects the {51} down off the stems of various plants, especially those of +the dead nettle or "labiate" tribe, with which it invests its cells. I +cannot do better than quote the following from F. Smith: "This is the +social bee which White in his History of Selbourne has so well described in +the following words: 'There is a sort of wild bee frequenting the Garden +Campion for the sake of its tomentum, which probably it turns to some +purpose in the business of nidification. It is very pleasant to see with +what address it strips off the pubes running from the top to the bottom of +a branch and shaving it bare with the dexterity of a hoop shaver; when it +has got a vast bundle, almost as large as itself, it flies away, holding it +secure between its chin and fore legs.'" + + * * * * * + +{52} + +LEAF-CUTTING BEES + +[Illustration: FIG. 7.] + +These are amongst the specially interesting of the bees in their habits. +They are dull-brown coloured creatures rather like a stout hive bee in form +(pl. C, 20). They all collect pollen on the underside of their body. They +burrow either in decayed wood or in the ground, but they make their cells +of pieces of leaves which they cut off from rose bushes or other plants; +these cells when completed are wonderful works of art. Probably some of my +readers may have noticed rose leaves with semicircular pieces cut out of +them, and often with almost circular ones; this is the work of the leaf +cutter (fig. 7). + +[Illustration: PLATE C. + +20. _Megachile maritima_, _female_. 21. _Coelioxys conoidea_, _male_. 22. +_Coelioxys conoidea_, _female_. 23. _Nest of Megachile willughbiella._ + +[_face p. 52._ ] + +{53} She alights on a leaf, holds on to the edge of the piece she wants to +cut off with her legs, and then cuts it out by means of her jaws, or +mandibles; as soon as it is cut free she uses her wings and so prevents +herself from falling, and goes off with the cut off piece safely held under +her body by her legs. I have frequently seen bees flying home with their +leafy burden, and once or twice I have seen them cutting the pieces out. +They cut round the piece they select with great rapidity--the marvel is +that they can arrange so exactly as not to fall when the last attachment is +removed. The pieces they cut have to be of several shapes in order to build +up the cell they require; some are more or less lozenge shaped, some almost +circular; the cells they make are somewhat thimble-shaped. The +lozenge-shaped pieces are used to build up the sides and lower end of the +cell, and the circular pieces to close it in with at the top; it is all +cemented together with a gluey substance excreted by the bee. The burrows +of the leaf-cutters are made, as stated above, either in the ground or in +rotten wood. I have never had a subterranean nest to examine, but have had +several nests in rotten wood under my notice, one of which is now before me +(pl. C, 23). It is in a piece of very {54} soft willow, almost in a +touchwood condition. So that by carefully cutting away the wood I have been +able to expose the whole series of cells. Two distinct burrows run almost +parallel to each other; both of them are slightly curved and each has +contained six cells; these are about half an inch long, and they fit one +over another in the tube as closely as possible so as to look like two long +thick green worms. Each cell is composed of many pieces of leaf, and the +final plug which closes the cell is often made of several rounds of leaf +one over the other. The amount of labour taken by the mother bee to make +these cells must be enormous. The cells are provisioned like those of any +other solitary bee with pollen, etc., and the egg is laid upon it. Most of +the leaf-cutters have their attendant cuckoos, which are rather smaller +than themselves, of a deep black with white bands on the sides of the body. +The female has a very pointed tail, and the male's body ends in a series of +spine-like projections (pl. C, 21, 22). + + * * * * * + +{55} + +OSMIA AND ITS HABITS + +I have tried as much as possible to avoid scientific names, but the +misfortune is that there are hardly any popular names in use which can be +attached for certain to any particular species, and unless this can be done +it is of no use using vague names like the "Carpenter Bee", the "Mason +Bee", etc. There are many carpenter bees and many mason bees, and though +their habits may be alike in this one particular they differ among +themselves in the way they use their tools, and it is necessary to know +which one we are talking about. It is a common thing to hear people +inveighing against Latin names, etc., but they forget that there are no +English ones in use, and what is more important, that Greek and Latin names +are common property to all nations, so that we can all know what we are +talking about, whereas if we call an insect by an English name and the +Russians {56} call it by a Russian name, the difficulty of coming to a +mutual understanding is very great. This is only an aside to justify the +use of classical names. I quite feel that for popular use in this country a +good series of English names might be useful, but we have not got one, and +it would require a great deal of care and thought to frame a nomenclature +which would really be useable by the persons who require it. + +I have made these remarks here because _Osmia_ is a genus whose members +vary very much in their habits, and some species of which, like sensible +beings, adapt their habits to their surroundings, so that no name such as +carpenter bee, etc., would apply to all the species, or, as a rule, even to +one. _Osmia rufa_ especially adopts several methods of nesting. This little +bee is clothed more or less all over with yellowish hairs; it is compact in +shape like all the other species of _Osmia_, and like them collects its +pollen on the underside of the body. It may sometimes be seen flying up and +down the walls of a house looking for a crevice to build in, but it is not +the least particular as to where to form its cells. In one memorable case +the female selected a flute {57} which had been left in a garden-arbour. +The bee constructed fourteen cells in the tube of the instrument, +commencing its first cell a quarter of an inch below the mouthhole. The +flute is preserved in the Natural History Museum at South Kensington. At +other times this species burrows in the ground, at others it makes its +cells in crevices of old walls; it has been known to build in a lock, and +is said sometimes to inhabit snail shells. Other species of _Osmia_ almost +always burrow in banks, but in no case does a habit seem to be uniformly +adopted by a species. One well known and rare species, _Osmia leucomelana_, +is a regular bramble-stick species, tunnelling down the pith in the centre +of the stalks, but I once found it to my surprise in fair numbers nesting +in a sandy bank. Other species again, as a rule, select snail shells to +build in; they find an old disused shell lying about in some sheltered +place and adapt it to their purposes, commencing their cells singly in the +narrow whorls of the shell and side by side as they approach its mouth, +i.e. if the shell be a wide-mouthed one like the common garden snail +(_Helix aspersa_). F. Smith, who gives a very interesting account of these +{58} creatures in his _Catalogue of British Hymenoptera in the British +Museum_, mentions a case where the bee finding the larger whorls of the +shell too wide constructed two cells across the whorl. Another very +interesting case given by Smith is of a nest of many cells of the rare +_Osmia inermis_ (which in his days was known as _Osmia parietina_). A slab +of stone, 10 inches by 6, was brought to him with 230 cocoons of this +_Osmia_ attached to its under side; when found in the month of November, +1849, about a third of them were empty; in March of the following year a +few males made their appearance and shortly afterwards a few females, and +they continued to come out at intervals till the end of June, at which time +he had 35 cocoons still unopened; in 1851 some more emerged, and he opened +one or two of the closed ones and found that they still contained living +larvæ; he closed them up again, and in April, 1852, examined them and found +the larvæ still alive; at the end of May they changed to pupæ and appeared +as perfect insects, the result being that some of the specimens were at +least three years before reaching maturity. {59} + +There is a nest of yet another style adopted by one of our species (_Osmia +xanthomelana_). This is formed of a series of pitcher-shaped cells made of +mud, constructed at the roots of grass. The species which makes it is rare +and seems to have its headquarters on the coasts of Wales, although it has +occurred in the Isle of Wight and elsewhere. This species also is not +constant in its habits, as it has been known to make its cells underground. +A very curious habit was noticed some years ago by Mr. Vincent R. Perkins +in another species of this genus (_Osmia bicolor_; pl. D, 28); the species +nests in the ground or in snail shells, but, in the case under his +observation, Mr. Perkins found that the little bees covered up all the +snail shells in which they had built their cells with short pieces of +"bents" so as to make a little hillock over each about two or three inches +in height, somewhat resembling a miniature nest of _Formica rufa_, the +large horse ant, each mound containing hundreds of pieces. This is the only +record I know of this habit, which must entail a large amount of labour for +the bee. + +These varying habits in the same species {60} show pretty clearly that +these little creatures are not driven by any blind instinct in the adoption +of their methods of nest building: they appear to have a distinct power of +choice and adaptation according to their environment, unless of course it +can be shown that the offspring of, say, a snail shell inhabitant follows +its parents' habits, and that that of a ground borer does the same--but +even that would not explain the case given by F. Smith, and quoted above, +where an _Osmia_ had filled up the whorls of a shell and then, finding the +final whorl too large, placed two cells horizontally to fill it: that seems +to indicate distinct design on the part of the bee and would be hard to +explain as due to instinct. Unfortunately, with the exception of a very +few, the species of _Osmia_ are rare in this country, so that few +opportunities are available for studying their habits, which are certainly +amongst the most interesting of any genus. + +[Illustration: PLATE D. + +24. _Anthophora pilipes, male._ 25. _Anthophora pilipes, female._ 26. +_Melecta armata, female._ 27. _Anthidium manicatum, female._ 28. _Osmia +bicolor, female._ 29. _Bombus terrestris, female._ 30. _Bombus lapidarius. +female._ 31. _Psithyrus rupestris, female._ + +[_face p. 61._ ] + +{61} + +A COLONY OF ANTHOPHORA + +_Anthophora pilipes_ (pl. D, 24, 25), one of our early spring bees, often +forms enormous colonies. I have sometimes seen sandpits in which the sides +were riddled all over with holes of this species, and where the insects +were in such numbers that a distinct hum was audible from the vibration of +their wings. In such colonies one is sure to detect some of their cuckoo +associates, _Melecta armata_ (pl. D, 26). They are deep black bees, much of +the same size as their hosts but with more pointed tails and with a small +spot of snow-white hairs on the side of each segment of the body; like +other cuckoos they sail about in a more demure way than their hosts, but a +more lively scene than a large colony of _Anthophora_ can hardly be found. +The _Anthophora_ provisions its cells with honey and pollen, and its egg in +consequence floats on the top--the {62} number of cells varies from five or +six up to ten or eleven. + +_Anthophora pilipes_ has a very close relative in _Anthophora retusa_, +which also forms large colonies, but it is as a rule less common. These two +species are exceedingly alike, in fact it requires some skill on the part +of the observer to differentiate their females. They are both black and +clothed with black hairs, and both have yellow pollen-brushes, but in +_retusa_ the hairs are shorter and not quite of such a deep black as those +of _pilipes_, and the spurs of the tibiæ are pale, whereas in _pilipes_ +they are black. The males, however, differ widely, although much alike in +colour; in _pilipes_ the feet of the middle pair of legs are clothed with +enormously long hairs, the basal joint has a dense fringe of black hairs in +front and some long black hairs behind (see pl. D, fig. 24); in _retusa_ +the basal joint of the middle pair of feet have a fan-shaped fringe of +black hairs, and the rest of the joints are clothed with longer hairs, but +not long enough to be specially noticeable. _A. retusa_ is visited by the +same cuckoo as _A. pilipes_ and also by its rare ally _Melecta luctuosa_, +which only differs from _armata_ {63} (pl. D, 26) in the larger and squarer +spots of the body and various small structural characters hardly +appreciable except by specialists. The Anthophoras have other parasites +besides their cuckoos; one is a beetle, which, however, is rare, and which +lays its egg in the _Anthophora_ cells; the other is a very minute member +of the Hymenopterous family, whose larva when hatched feeds upon the larva +of the bee. Notwithstanding these disadvantages both species are abundant, +although _retusa_ is more local than _pilipes_. A very interesting fact +connected with this genus has just been communicated to me by the Rev. +F. D. Morice. John Ray, who lived in the seventeenth century, mentions in +his book _Historia Insectorum_ (published posthumously in 1710), p. 243, +that a large colony of a bee, which from his description was clearly an +_Anthophora_, as he specially calls attention to the great difference +between the males and females, inhabited a certain locality at Kilby near +"Hill Morton" in Northamptonshire. Mr. Morice, who for many years resided +at Rugby, knew Hillmorton, as it is now spelled, well, and tells me that a +large colony of _Anthophora_ was in that same locality when he knew it only +{64} a few years ago. Of course there is no proof that it has been there +throughout the intervening period, but there seems to be no reason to doubt +it, and if so it is a most interesting case of a persistent colony. + + * * * * * + +{65} + +BEES AND POLLEN-COLLECTING + +Bees whether solitary or social enter flowers for the sake of the honey in +their nectaries and the pollen on their anthers. In some cases the flowers +automatically deposit pollen on the bees during the operation, which +enables them to fertilize other flowers of the same species, but the pollen +which the bee requires for its own use has to be worked for and collected +on organs specially adapted for the purpose. These vary very much in the +different families and genera; they exist only in the females, and, if the +males get covered with pollen, as they often do, it is probably more by +chance than purpose, and it is doubtful if it is of any value to the brood, +although no doubt useful in fertilizing other flowers. All our bees, as has +been pointed out before, are clothed more or less with branched or +feather-like hairs, which would appear to be admirably adapted for the +collecting of pollen. {66} At the same time some species which have their +bodies clothed with branched hairs have simple or spirally grooved hairs on +the collecting organ--others collect on very much branched hairs--so that +there seems to be no exact relationship between the plumosity of the hairs +and their utility in collecting. The collecting brushes are either on the +hind legs or, as in some cases, on the ventral surface of the body. In a +female _Andrena_, the hind leg has a tuft of curled hairs near the base of +the leg, and a more or less heavy brush on the outside of the tibia or shin +(fig. 8). When a female returns after a collecting expedition these +specially hairy regions are a mass of pollen grains, and the "beautiful +yellow legs", so often remarked upon in some bees, are not always due to +the colour of the hairs but to that of the grains of pollen adhering to +them. The genera which collect on the under surface of the body have to +visit flowers where the anthers lie in such a position that they can +transfer the pollen on to it; the pea flower tribe are favourites with +them, and also the _Compositæ_. All this section have long tongues so that +they are able to reach the nectaries of {67} [Illustration: FIG. 8.] +[Illustration: FIG. 9.] plants with long tubular flowers. In visiting these +the pollen is often deposited on the back of the bee; this it is able to +transfer to its under side by means of the brushes on its feet or tarsi. +The arrangements of the humble bees for pollen gathering are altogether +different from those mentioned above. They have the hind shin outwardly +shining and rather concave, with a series of long curved hairs running down +each side of it and partly curving over it, so that they carry their mass +of pollen in a sort of basket, scientifically called the "corbicula" (fig. +9); this would be impossible if the pollen were gathered dry, as it is by +most of the solitary bees, so the bee moistens it on the flower with the +nectar she has been sucking so as to make it sticky, and then transfers it +into her basket by means of her foot brushes. The pollen therefore on the +hind leg of a humble bee is all in one mass and can be {68} removed as +such. When the bee reaches her nest this must of course save her the +trouble which the solitary bee must have of cleaning off all the separate +grains of pollen which are mixed up among the hairs. + +A word or two may be convenient here on the combs and cleaning apparatus of +bees. Any one who has watched a bee clean itself will have noticed that the +front legs work more or less horizontally--a bee will lower its head and +bring its front leg over it with a curved motion--and that it will clean +the sides of the face with a sort of shaving-like action, also that the +antennæ are apparently pulled through the foot-joint in a remarkable way, +often many times in succession. Now the foot of a bee consists of five +joints, and is clothed with bristly looking hairs. If these hairs be +examined through a microscope they will be found to be more or less +razor-shaped, having a thick back and a dilated wing or knife-like blade +(fig. 10). In some the blade is of some width, and the edge is evidently +very sharp: these hairs or spines no doubt do the cleaning work, and +admirably adapted they are to the purpose. The antennæ-cleaner {69} +[Illustration: FIG. 10.] [Illustration: FIG. 11.] [Illustration: FIG. 12.] +(it may possibly be used for other purposes too) is a still more wonderful +adaptation; in the basal joint of the foot there is a semicircular +incision, which, when examined under the microscope, is seen to be a small +toothed comb. The foot itself fits into the tibia or shin, and at the apex +of the latter is a modified spine which is dilated on one side into a wing, +or knife-like blade; this shuts down on to the semicircular comb, and the +insect by passing the antennæ between the two can clean off anything which +may have stuck to it (fig. 11). When we come to examine the other legs we +find that the inner surface of their tibiæ and tarsi, i.e. that which is +nearest the body, is clothed with hairs which have the points dilated and +spade-like (fig. 12), which {70} allowing for the different action of the +hind legs makes them just as good cleaners as the razors of the front pair; +the spurs at the apex of the tibiæ, which are known as the _calcaria_, are +also doubtless useful for cleaning purposes, and this is specially +suggested by the beautiful saw-like form which they assume in some species; +although there is no actual semicircular comb in the first joint of the +tarsi, yet there can be little doubt that the spur and this joint in +conjunction can act as a cleaning organ very much in the same way as the +more elaborate arrangement in the front legs. Any one who has the +opportunity of examining the hairs of bees under a microscope will be amply +repaid for the trouble in noticing the beautiful shapes and structures +which these organs assume. (Figs. 13-18; 17 showing pollen grains +adhering.) At one time, when I was specially examining bee hairs, I shaved +the various parts of a large number of species and mounted their hairs dry +in microscopic slides, merely securing the cover glass with liquid glue; +this was twenty years ago, and many are still quite good. It may seem a +difficult operation to shave a bee, but {71} the hairs come off very +easily, and with a sharp dissecting knife for a razor as many hairs as one +wants are almost immediately at one's disposal. + +[Illustration: FIG. 13.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 14.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 15.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 16.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 17.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 18.] + + * * * * * + +{72} + +ON BEES' TONGUES, AND HOW THEY SUCK HONEY + +In order to understand how a bee sucks honey it will be necessary to go +into some rather careful details as to the construction of its tongue and +mouth organs. These I will make as short and simple as I can, but the +apparatus is a very complicated one, and it will be impossible to describe +it without a good deal of technical phraseology. + +The tongue has always been considered such an important feature in a bee's +structure that it has been made the chief basis of their classification. On +this subject I will only say that there are three principal types of +tongues--a short bifid tongue (fig. 19, 3[1]), resembling those of the +fossors; a short pointed one, shaped somewhat like a spear head (fig. 19, +2, 2a); and a long parallel-sided, ribbon-like tongue (fig. 19, 1, 1a). The +bees are classified on what is considered to be an {73} ascending scale, +beginning with the bifid-tongued species, through those with the short +spear shaped tongues to the higher forms, which have this organ elongate +and parallel-sided. + +[Illustration: FIG. 19.] + +The tongue is the central organ of an elaborate combination of mouth parts, +which I will now try to explain. If we turn a bee's head over and look at +its underside we shall find a deep cavity, filled up with the base of this +combination which fits into it. If we extend the tongue (a humble bee is a +good subject on account of its large size, fig. 20) so as to draw its base +out of the cavity, we shall find that in the edge of each side of the +cavity there is articulated a short rod (20, A), more or less dilated at +its apex, called {74} the _stipes_; on the flattened ends of these rods +there swings a joint shaped something like the "merrythought" bone of a +chicken, called the _lora_ or reins (20, B), to the central angle of which +are suspended the pieces of the apparatus which terminate in the tongue. +This V-shaped joint can swing over on its feet, and can therefore lie +either between the _stipites_ or rods with its angle pointing towards the +tail of the bee, or in the opposite direction with its angle projecting +beyond them and pointing forwards. It will at once be seen that by this +turn of the V the tongue can be projected a distance equivalent to twice +the length of the V. + +This V-shaped joint varies much in the length of its arms, which are much +longer in the long-tongued than in the short-tongued bees. + +When we examine the parts that are suspended from this joint, we shall find +that the actual tongue is separated from it by two distinct pieces; the +first (i.e. that next to the _lora_) a short joint (the _submentum_, 20, +C), the second (the _mentum_, 20, D) a long semi-cylindrical joint which +holds as in a trough the softer parts at the base of the tongue. From the +apex of the _mentum_ {75} project three organs; the central one is the +actual tongue (or _ligula_, 20, E), and on each side are the organs which +are called the _labial palpi_ (20, F); these in the long-tongued bees more +or less fold over the base of the tongue and protect it. There are two +other large and important mouth parts called the _maxillæ_ (20, G); these +articulate on to the flattened apices of the _cardines_, outside the +articulation of the feet of the _lora_, and extend on each side of the +_mentum_; they also have flattened blades sheathing, when closed, the whole +of the _mentum_ above, as well as the base of the tongue. + +[Illustration: FIG. 20.] + +So far we have been looking at the back of the head and mouth parts; if we +now look at the front we shall see the _maxillæ_; if we open these we shall +see the tongue lying between the {76} labial palpi, and at the base of the +tongue we shall see two little sheaths called the _paraglossæ_; above these +the softer parts lying in the trough of the _mentum_; from the base of the +_mentum_, connecting with the _maxillæ_, there extends a membrane which +entirely invests the spaces between the bases of these organs and extends +up to the mouth. A membrane also extends between the _stipites_ and _lora_, +and closes the cavity at the back of the head. The back of the tongue in +the act of sucking can be formed into a tube through which, partly, +probably by capillary action, partly by the pumping action caused by the +dilating and contracting of certain parts of the mechanism, the liquid food +is drawn up into the æsophagus. This, I believe, has been shown to be the +principle on which all bees, short- or long-tongued, suck up their honey. +The subject could be treated at much greater length, and many other +structures connected with the mouth parts discussed, but more minute +details are unnecessary in an elementary work such as this, and I have +therefore limited myself to a description of the broad principles of the +process. + + * * * * * + +{77} + +A DREADFUL PARASITE + +[Illustration: FIG. 21.] + +Of all the evils to which bee flesh is heir, there can hardly be any so +terrible as the effects of the parasite _Stylops_ on the species of +_Andrena_ and _Halictus_ which it attacks. This very extraordinary +creature, which is now considered to be a beetle, lives during the early +stages of both sexes in the body of the bee, which it enters when the bee +is in the larval state. Its head protrudes like a minute flat seed between +the body segments (fig. 21), and so is visible externally, but the rest of +the creature, which is a grub-like larva, rests amongst the intestines of +the bee; the female matures in the bee's body and never leaves it. The +male, however, when mature, escapes, leaving the {78} [Illustration: FIG. +22. Stylops larva in abdominal cavity: after Perez.] great hole which he +inhabited open; he is provided with wings, and I have more than once caught +one flying in the open--but to return to our afflicted bee. This may be +attacked in either sex, and by one to five of the parasites. I have +specimens myself with four parasites in them, and a case of five has been +recorded. Mr. R. C. L. Perkins, writing on this subject, says: "On removing +the integument dorsally from the bee, the large body of the female parasite +will be seen lying above the viscera, often almost entirely concealing +them". If this is the condition of a bee nourishing only one parasite, I +must leave it to my readers to imagine the state of the poor wretch who is +supporting five! The outward appearance of one with several parasites is +generally much distorted; the abdomen is very much inflated, and the poor +creature is unable to fly any {79} distance, and can only crawl about, or +perhaps take short flights of a foot or so. The effects, however, seem to +be very different in different cases. I have caught _Andrenas_ with two +_Stylops_ in them, flying about as usual and apparently none the worse for +their inmates. Probably the position the parasite occupies may make a great +difference in its effects on the bee. + +The most notable effect produced by _Stylops_ is the alteration in the +structure and colour of certain of the bee's characteristic features. In +_Andrena_ the males differ very considerably from the females both in form +and colouring. They have no pollen-brushes on their legs, and in some few +species the face above the mouth is white, whereas in the female it is +black. Now the effect of the parasite seems to be to unsex as it were its +victims so far as their outward appearance is concerned. This is no doubt +due to the internal effects it has on the larva of the bee. Anyhow, if a +female is attacked, in most cases the pollen-brush is much reduced, the +face tends to become more hairy, and, if it be the female of a white-faced +male, spots of white are often produced on the face. On the other hand, +{80} if it be a male subject, the hairiness of the face is diminished, the +white colour is often reduced or absent, and the hairiness of the legs is +increased. + +Before the effects of the parasite were recognized, several new species +were described simply on specimens of unusual appearance in consequence of +its presence. + +These effects, however, like the effects produced on the activity of the +bee, vary exceedingly in extent. On some the parasite seems to have no +effect, in others the alteration in appearance is very great. This, again, +is probably due to the position of the parasites and to the pressure they +exert on the reproductive organs of the body in the larval state. + + * * * * * + +{81} + +AMONGST THE BEES AT WORK + +Now I feel sure many will be thinking "It is all very well to talk about +all these solitary and social bees, but I never see them. I certainly know +a humble bee with a white tail and another with a red tail, and a wasp, and +perhaps a hornet, but I never notice any others." The reason for this, no +doubt, is that people are not as a rule observant, and even if they notice +a creature one moment they probably forget all about it the next. If any +one goes out on a bright spring morning, late in March or early in April, +about 11 o'clock, into a garden well stocked with flowers, it will not, I +think, be many minutes before an insect darts on the wing along some +border, and, if attention be paid to the flowers, a little black hairy bee +with yellow legs, like a small humble bee, will be seen diligently at work +sucking honey from one of them. The darting bee, which is of a brownish red +colour, gradually {82} fading to grey after a few days' exposure to the +sun, is the male, and the black one the female. The male rarely settles, +but flies about courting the female. Often two or three males may be seen +dodging and crossing each other in their flight. The name of this bee is +_Anthophora_. It is quite a harbinger of spring, and I mention it +especially as it so forces itself on one's attention, and there are few who +will not meet with it without going especially on its quest. + +Another opportunity of seeing several kinds of solitary bees flying +together may be secured by standing on a sunny day in front of a sallow +bush in full blossom, I mean what is commonly called "palm." Its catkins, +when the anthers are out and covered with yellow pollen, are most +attractive to all kinds of bees, humble bees, hive bees, and solitary bees, +and any one who can manage to watch a sallow bush for some time will +realize that there are many kinds of bees at work. Of course it is +difficult, without special knowledge, to recognize which are bees and which +are flies amongst the many which are coming and going, but the +yellow-pollened legs of the female bees will generally betray them, as well +{83} as their steadier flight. A fly turns about more rapidly than a bee, +and sits down much more abruptly. Bees are very captious about the weather; +they do not like an east wind and are, apparently, very sensitive to coming +wet. I have often gone out on a bright morning and been surprised to find +nothing stirring, and then clouds have come up and proved the wisdom of the +bees in staying at home. They also fly very little in cloudy weather, +especially in the early spring, when the temperature is reduced by cloud +below their fancy. One may be watching a sallow bush and see dozens of +insects flying about. A cloud shadows it, and almost immediately they +disappear, to appear again as suddenly with the return of the sun's rays. +It is interesting to watch bees at work collecting pollen, etc., but if any +one wishes to study them at home, their nesting haunts must, of course, be +visited. These are so various that it is impossible to point them all out, +but the best locality to select is a sandy bank facing south. In June or +July such a bank is often alive with bees, sand-wasps, etc.; here, again, +we want sunshine or the bees will stay in their holes. {84} Even when dull, +however, it is a very interesting spot, and we can notice the numbers of +holes bored in the bank, and their different sizes and shapes; most of them +are round, but some sandwasps make very irregular holes. If we look closely +at some of the holes we shall see something closing the aperture, and, if +we are too inquisitive, that something will disappear down the hole like +lightning; it is the face of the owner of the burrow waiting to come out +for the first ray of sunshine, but the owner is very timid and it will be +some minutes before she puts her face so near danger again. In most of the +sandwasps the face is clothed with bright silvery, or sometimes golden, +hairs, and it is a very pretty sight to see these little silvery faces +peering out of their burrows. Again, one may sometimes notice a little +stream of sand emerging from a hole; this is from some bee who is enlarging +her domain or clearing out some of the sand which occasionally falls in. In +some cases this ejection of sand is done with a great deal of action: the +sand comes streaming out and then the bee follows, quite up to the mouth of +the passage, kicking out the sand as hard as it can. {85} The moment, +however, that the sun comes out the whole bank is full of life; and just as +in the case of the sallow bush, one wonders where it has all been during +the shadow. Bees will now be seen flying home laden with pollen; they will +pause at the opening of their burrow and then disappear suddenly into its +depths. In a very short time they will reappear quite clean and ready for +another journey. Their cleaning apparatus must be wonderfully well adapted +to its purpose. I have often had to remove the pollen from a bee's leg to +see what colour the hairs are, and it takes some time even to brush enough +of it off to ascertain this, and yet the natural cleaning process seems to +take no time in comparison. But to return to our bank, numbers of bees will +be seen coursing up and down and hardly ever settling; these are males +paying what attention they can to any females who have time to attend to +them, and often falling foul of other males intent on similar pursuits. If +one has good luck in the choice of one's bank an elegant wasp-like creature +may occasionally be seen amongst the others; this is one of the cuckoos. +The flight of all the cuckoo bees is peculiar; it is much {86} quieter and +slower than that of the hosts, and a cuckoo may easily be seen solemnly +flying up and down the bank, over the various holes, no doubt watching for +the proper opportunity to enter one, and deposit its egg in it. This +deliberate flight seems a curious habit in a creature which one would think +would wish to escape detection. If it seemed to inspire fear in the mind of +its host it would be different, but they appear to fly about together +unconcerned at each other's presence, and the cuckoo sails along demurely +and imposes on its hosts' labours without any apparent resentment on the +latter's part; both seem to accept their relationship as a matter of +course. Another very interesting frequenter of sandy banks is a pretty +little stout sandwasp, about a quarter of an inch long, called _Oxybelus_. +It has a very bright silvery face which shines most brilliantly in the sun, +and the body has a row of white spots on each side, and it brings flies +back to its nest. It is very active and common, and may often be seen with +its fly going back to its hole. There is a rare species of the same genus, +which is clothed all over with silvery hairs, and this in some places, +curiously {87} enough, selects as its victim a fly which is also coated +with silver. There are, of course, many other inhabitants in such a bank as +this. There are sure to be ants, which are always interesting to watch, and +probably now and then a _Pompilus_ will appear on the scene. These +exceedingly lively creatures which run at a very rapid pace, vibrating +their wings as they go, and taking short flights between the runs, are on +the hunt for spiders. They will be seen to forage amongst any grass or +herbage there may be on the bank, and if they can only secure a spider it +is stung and paralyzed and carried off at once to the nest. Of course every +sand bank will not yield a great number of insects, but some, especially in +sandy districts like Woking, Oxshott, and other parts of the Surrey +commons, and the New Forest, simply teem with life--and would repay any one +for hours of watching and observation. + + * * * * * + +{88} + +ANTS, THEIR GUESTS AND THEIR LODGERS + +The number of insects of different kinds which live in ants' nests, either +as scavengers, stray visitors who have found a lodging for the moment, as +guests carefully taken care of and appreciated by the ants, or as lodgers, +either tolerated or hostile to their hosts and persecuted, and parasites, +is very great. The most interesting of these from the ordinary observer's +point of view are the true guests and the lodgers. The true guests are +carefully attended to by the ants; they include such insects as the +_Aphides_ or plant lice, and others which the ants use as "cows" to secure +the saccharine juices which they can obtain from them, and also certain +strange beetles which have tufts of golden hairs on their body, which the +ants lick--on account of what E. Wasmann[2] calls the etherealized oil {89} +given off by them. These beetles are fairly numerous and belong to several +quite distinct families; the one which perhaps is amongst the most +interesting is a creature called _Lomechusa strumosa_. This insect has +rather an interesting history in connexion with our British fauna. It used +to be considered as an indigenous insect, but so many years passed without +any one finding it, that the old records were suspected as doubtful, and it +was removed from the list of British species. In 1906, however, it was +rediscovered near Woking in a nest of _Formica sanguinea_ (pl. A, 1, 2, 3), +one of the large red ants, by Mr. H. Donisthorpe. The life-history of +_Lomechusa_ is a very curious one: it is taken great care of by the ants, +and its larvæ are even placed by them with their own, on which it feeds. +Its numbers are kept down apparently by the overzeal of the ants to take +care of them. The ants bring their own pupæ up frequently to obtain light +and air and with them it brings up the _Lomechusa_ pupæ--this seems not to +suit the latter and results in the death of many of them. It is a most +interesting case of how a due balance can be maintained, and what might +prove an enemy {90} kept in his proper place by kind intentions. There are +also in ants' nests what Dr. Wasmann calls "tolerated lodgers"; these are +mostly creatures which are supposed to escape the notice of the ants, +either by their small size or by their slow, lethargic, or on the other +hand very rapid movements--these in many cases act as scavengers, living on +the dead bodies of insects, etc., brought in by the ants. + +The hostile lodgers are real enemies to the ants and devour their brood, +and in consequence they are always at war with each other. These creatures +generally resemble the ants considerably in form and colour and especially +in their movements. + +Besides these lodgers there are numerous parasites of the ants, such as +mites, etc., so that an ant colony is a very wonderful mixture of diverse +inhabitants. The distinctions given above as to the habits of the various +lodgers are not always kept up, as, in some, two or more of these habits +are combined. The whole study of ants and their guests is a most +fascinating one: many of the latter are great rarities and much sought +after by collectors. Unfortunately, the great {91} drawback in collecting +them is the havoc caused to the nests of the ants. These structures have +been the result of enormous labour on the part of these little creatures, +and one cannot regard their destruction without sincere regret. I think any +one who, when collecting beetles, disturbs a large nest of the little +garden ant (_Lasius niger_) or the little yellow ant (_Lasius flavus_) by +turning over a stone, as the writer has often done himself, must have +experienced a like regret at having broken up all the beautiful passages +and galleries which the ants have constructed so carefully. + + * * * * * + +{92} + +HOW CAN AN "ACULEATE" BE RECOGNIZED? + +This is not an easy question to answer. We cannot make hard and fast +definitions which will determine exactly what belongs to this group and +what to that; there are always some intermediate forms which present +themselves and make our classification unsatisfactory, but, I think, for +all purposes of practical observation in the field we may say that if we +find a creature with four membranous wings, burrowing in the ground or +making a nest in any way, it is an aculeate or stinger. Also, that if we +find a hairy-bodied insect with four clear wings collecting pollen or +sucking nectar from a flower it is a bee. There are, of course, characters +by which the stinging groups can be known almost for certain, but there is +no single one which can be given to recognize them by. {93} They are known +by a combination of many, and these are frequently small structural details +which do not appeal to the field observer; in fact, which are unappreciable +except under magnification. One of the chief difficulties experienced by an +observer who is not versed in classification is to avoid being deceived by +various flies, which in many cases greatly resemble bees, and especially +wasps or the wasp-like fossors. They may mostly be known by their flight, +and, when they settle, by their behaviour. A fly is more sudden in its +movements--those wasp-like flies, for instance, which poise themselves in +the air and appear quite stationary but dart off in a second when +approached, betray themselves at once by their alertness. _Anthophora_ and +_Saropoda_ poise in the air and dart somewhat after the same fashion, but +they never remain poised for long, and do not get away from their position +so rapidly. Also, a fly when it settles remains quiet, whereas an aculeate +if in a flower sets to work collecting pollen, or if basking in the sun on +a leaf rarely rests for many seconds without moving in some way. On a +flower, if an insect is seen quietly sitting with its head away from the +centre of the {94} flower, it is almost certain to be a fly. Most of the +little bees (_Halicti_) which visit dandelions and such like "composites" +fly in to them with some rapidity, attack them sideways, and move round the +"flower", no doubt getting pollen from each floret in succession and with a +businesslike action about it all, which is very different from the +behaviour of any fly. The flies which really closely resemble bees in their +flight are those which lay their eggs in the burrows of various bees and +sandwasps. They are really deceptive. Last summer on the sandhills at +Southbourne, near Bournemouth, I again and again was deceived by a small +fly with a red belt across its body, thinking it was a red-bodied sandwasp. +These it really only resembles on the wing. After having been taken in once +or twice one felt ashamed of oneself for not recognizing it. The flies also +which associate with the humble bees are often coloured very much like +them, and could easily be mistaken for small specimens of the bees were it +not for their behaviour and wings, which show a dark spot on the upper +margin, not existing in the wing of the bee. + + * * * * * + +{95} + +MALES AND FEMALES + +These differ from each other very greatly in many cases. Eccentricity in +structure almost always occurs in the male; excess of coloration usually in +the female. In size the male is generally the smaller and the less robustly +built of the two. Among the pollen-collectors, the male is usually less +densely clothed with hairs than the [female]. In the fossors this rule is +rather reversed, but in that section neither sex is densely clothed with +hairs as are most of the pollenigerous bees. + +The male has normally thirteen joints in its antennæ, and the female only +twelve. There are exceptions to this rule amongst the ants and in certain +fossors of the genus _Crabro_, some species of which have the antennæ +considerably distorted, and have two joints welded apparently into one. +Another distinction between the sexes is that the male has seven dorsal +segments {96} of the body exposed to view, and the female only six. In the +males of some of those bees which collect pollen on the underside of the +body, the body above terminates with the sixth segment. This is because the +seventh is turned over on to the underside, and faces downwards, its apex +pointing towards the head. This arrangement of course leaves less room for +the regular ventral segments, and the usual apical segments are in +consequence "telescoped" up under the fourth, so that the apical opening of +the body lies on its underside between the fourth ventral and the inverted +seventh dorsal segments. This very curious structure occurs only in those +bees whose females collect pollen on the underside, and the reason of it is +to me quite inexplicable. The females of a few of the fossors are destitute +of wings; but in this country we have no wingless males, except in the case +of one little ant (_Formicoxenus_); this lives in the nest of the common +large red ant, and its male can hardly be known from the worker except by +the number of joints in the antennæ and the absence of a sting. In the +cases where the female is wingless, the male as a rule is much the larger +of the two sexes. {97} There are few more puzzling questions than those +which arise over these eccentricities of structure; they seem to have no +relation to any habits of the creatures' lives so far as we can judge, +neither can one suggest any useful purpose which they can serve. In some +groups the males of all the species seem built on one regular plan--in +others the males of each species seem to vie with the next as to what +eccentricity of structure in antennæ or legs or apex of the body it can +exhibit. In numbers, the males probably considerably exceed the females, +and are far more frequently met with, as they seem to be less particular as +to weather, and not being intent on obtaining food for their offspring they +fly about more casually, and certainly are more in evidence generally. + +The great difference in structure, etc., between the males and females +makes the work of pairing the sexes very difficult, especially in those +genera where the males and females appear together only for a few weeks, as +is the case in _Halictus_ and _Sphecodes_. If one visits a locality in the +spring one may catch any number of females of _Halictus_, but no males +appear till the late {98} summer or autumn, and, unless one visits the same +spot again when both sexes are out, it is impossible to associate males and +females. I have at the present moment in my collection several males, +which, being in doubt about myself, I have communicated to continental +authorities, who have returned them to me as possibly the male of so and +so! and we shall have to remain in uncertainty about them till some one +happens to take both sexes together, when the mystery will be solved. + +In time of appearance the males always precede the females--in burrows, +such as those of the leaf-cutting bees, etc., it may seem puzzling as to +how this is arranged, as one cell is placed over the other so that those +lower down in the tube cannot pass those higher up. This difficulty is got +over by the arrangement that the first eggs laid by the mother bee are +female and the last male, so that those at the top belong to this latter +sex; these emerge as soon as the warmth of the sun is great enough to +energize them sufficiently to break through their cell covering, when they +emerge and wait for the appearance of their females. The males of {99} some +species of _Andrena_ seem to take great pleasure in flying rapidly up and +down hedgerows, hardly ever settling, and apparently far away from their +females, which are probably pollen collecting in dandelions or some such +flowers in the neighbourhood. + + * * * * * + +{100} + +THE VAGARIES OF COLOUR AND STRUCTURE IN THE SEXES + +As a rule the male is rather smaller and especially slenderer than the +female, but there are notable exceptions; in one genus of the fossors, +_Myrmosa_ for instance, the male is many times larger than the female. In +this case the male is winged and the female is wingless. Also, if there is +a difference in brightness of coloration between the sexes, as a rule the +male is duller than the female--this is especially the case among the +bees--but if there is any eccentricity in the form of the limbs it is +almost sure to occur in the male, and I think one would not go far wrong in +saying that when peculiar features occur in the female, the reason for them +is more or less apparent, whereas for the eccentricities of the male there +really often seems to be no assignable cause. These male eccentricities are +often exceedingly marked. A very good {101} [Illustration: FIG. 23.] +[Illustration: FIG. 24.] example of them occurs among the small "keyhole" +wasps. All the British species are practically alike in coloration. They +may vary in having a greater or less number of yellow bands on the body, +but otherwise their distinctions rest on structure. In the females the +antennæ are slightly thickened towards the apex, but otherwise they are +simple. The males, however, are divided into three quite distinct groups. +In the first of these, the end joints of the antennæ are rolled up in more +or less of a spiral (fig. 23, 2); in the second, the apical joint is turned +sharply back like a hook (fig. 23, 1); in the third, the end joints of the +antennæ are simple and more or less like those of the female. Now if we +examine the legs of the males in the first group we shall find still +greater peculiarities; in two of our species there is a long yellow spine +at the extreme base of the middle leg on the little joint by which it +articulates on to the body (fig. 24, 2), and a curious pencil of hairs +{102} on each side of the mouth. In two others, the femora, or thighs of +the middle legs, are cut into two deep somewhat semicircular incisions +(fig. 24, 1)--a most curious character; but here again the females have no +corresponding peculiarities. There seems to be no explanation known for +these vagaries, and yet one feels that there must be some object served by +them. If we turn to the bees we shall find that in many species the face of +the male is white to a greater or less extent, whereas that character is +very rare in the female. The front feet are produced into a wide flattened +form in some, in others the middle legs are extraordinarily developed, and +provided with tufts of hairs, etc. Another form of male development lies in +the form of the head. This is sometimes very much enlarged--often varying +considerably in this respect in specimens of the same species; there is +often a projecting tooth or spine on the mandible or jaw at its base, or +frequently on the cheek just above it. Then in the fossors the males of the +genus _Crabro_ break out into numerous eccentricities; in some, two or more +of the joints of the antennæ are soldered together and curved or cut out +into {103} curious forms (fig. 26); in others the front shin or tibia is +formed like a concave shield or shell (fig. 25), and all the joints of that +leg more or less distorted; in another male (a rather doubtful native which +has not been taken in this country for fifty years) the head is narrowed +behind into an almost ridiculously small neck, being quite triangular in +form, viewed from above, with the eyes projecting from its anterior angles +(fig. 27, 1), the female head being of normal form (fig. 27, 2). + +[Illustration: FIG. 25.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 26.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 27.] + +In the males of several species of fossors and bees the eyes are enormously +developed, joining one another on the top of the head. This condition +occurs also in the drone of the hive bee. The male of _Astatus_, which has +this character, has also a peculiar habit. It sits basking in the sun on +some bare sandy spot, and when disturbed makes a sort of circular detour +and pitches down again exactly on the spot from which it started up. An +{104} increased length of the antennæ is another male characteristic. This +is carried to an extraordinary development in what is called the "long +horned bee"; this bee, which is pretty common in some places, has antennæ +which, when directed backwards, are almost as long as its body--the female +has quite an ordinary pair. + +Another set of male characters which are of great value to systematists +lies in the hidden apical segments of the underside; although these are +hidden, being telescoped up inside the segments which close the apical +opening of the body, they often assume most curious and beautiful forms, +and are characters whereby the males of a species may be determined with +certainty when the females defy all one's endeavours to discover their +identity. + + * * * * * + +{105} + +THE DISTRIBUTION, RARITY, OR ABUNDANCE OF VARIOUS SPECIES + +There are few points about which we know less than the causes of +distribution and rarity, although there are certain tolerably well +recognized laws which govern the occurrence of some species in certain +localities. What I mean is that marshy spots, say salt marshes for +instance, attract certain beetles and bugs which are never found except in +such places; certain kinds of flowers attract bees which never appear to +visit any others, but these localities and kinds of flowers occur often at +great distances from each other, and why--given a certain flower you +probably find a certain bee peculiar to it; or given a certain kind of +marsh you probably find a certain beetle, although the localities may be +hundreds of miles apart--I think still awaits explanation. I will give an +example with which I am personally well acquainted. {106} There is a rare +little bee (_Macropis labiata_) which at one time was looked upon as an +extreme rarity, having only occurred three or four times in this country. +Mr. F. Enoch, comparatively lately, took a fair number on the flowers of +the greater loose-strife (_Lysimachia vulgaris_) along the canal at Woking; +now that its food-plant is known, it has occurred in several other places +in numbers, and no doubt wherever the _Lysimachia_ is abundant _Macropis_ +will probably occur, but how the little creature has been distributed over +the places where this plant occurs, which are often far distant from each +other, seems to me to be an unsolved problem. Then there is another +puzzling point, and that is the extreme rarity of certain insects. No doubt +in many cases this is due to ignorance of their habits, as it has +frequently happened that species once considered of great rarity have +occurred in abundance when their habits have been discovered, as in the +case of _Macropis_, but there are some cases which do not seem to be +explainable in this way. I will again give an example which has been +specially under my own observation. _Dufourea vulgaris_, a little black +bee, {107} which certainly might not be recognized from its outward +appearance, as there are many which very closely resemble it, is still one +of our greatest rarities, only three British examples having been recorded. +The first was taken by Sir Sidney Saunders at Chewton, Hants, on the +twelfth of August, 1879; this was a male; the second, a female, was taken +by Mr. T. R. Billups at Woking, on the first of August, 1881; and the third +by myself at Chobham (about four miles from Woking) on the first of August, +1891. I believe in all cases these were taken on yellow composite flowers. +The flight and behaviour of the male I caught were so peculiar, as it +wriggled itself into the flower, that I knew at once I had caught a rarity, +and remarked to my companions that I believed I had got a _Dufourea_. I +also hazarded the remark that it was "ten years since it had been taken." +When I got home and looked up the former record it was ten years to a day. +Now there are few places in England that have been better worked for the +bee tribe than the Woking, Chobham, and Weybridge neighbourhood; it has +been worked by experienced men who would see a difference {108} in the +flight of an insect directly. The late Mr. F. Smith, in his day our leading +authority, the Rev. F. D. Morice, than whom no one has probably worked the +neighbourhood more thoroughly, Mr. T. R. Billups, Mr. E. B. Nevinson, and +the late Mr. A. Beaumont, have all been over the ground again and again, +and yet only these two _Dufoureas_! and these taken four miles apart. Here +again is a problem which is very perplexing! What part in nature does this +little rarity play? No doubt like everything else it has its duties, and +its corner to fill, but beyond that one can suggest nothing. + +Other bees are often exceedingly abundant in one season and very rare the +next, or they will entirely desert a locality where they have been +abundant, and move somewhere else--the occasional scarceness is due +probably to continued wet weather, which often appears to kill the larvæ. +Cold winters seem to have no injurious effect, although at one time they +were thought to determine the scarcity or otherwise of the bees of the +following summer. It has, I think, been clearly shown that larvæ can stand +almost any amount of cold, although they succumb to {109} the effects of +mildew produced by wet, but there is often no apparent reason why a well +established colony should migrate to quite new pastures. Sometimes the +proximity of new buildings or the digging up of ground may disturb them, +but I know of colonies that have gone from where I knew them a +comparatively few years ago, and where I can detect no change likely to +have affected them. On the other hand there are colonies which one has +known all one's life and which still go on as strongly or more strongly +than ever--the case quoted under _Anthophora_, p. 63, shows what +persistence there can be in some. + + * * * * * + +{110} + +ON BEES' WINGS + +The Bees and the other stinging groups have four wings like all the +_Hymenoptera_. These wings are almost always clear and transparent, at any +rate amongst the British species, there being only one exception which I +can call to mind in the female of the cuckoo of our large red-tailed +humble-bee, which has the wings blackish; also they are never spotted, as +in some flies. The hind or lower wings unite with the upper by a series of +very beautiful hooks which extend along their upper margin and fix on to +the posterior edge of the front wing, which is folded back on itself so as +to receive them; in flight the two wings are united, but when at rest they +separate; these hooks are beautiful objects under a microscope; their +numbers vary; and in some cases this variation is useful in distinguishing +closely allied species from one another. The hum of a bee is caused, to a +great extent, by {111} the vibration of the wings, but it has been shown +that a loud buzzing noise can be emitted by bees which have lost their +wings; this proceeds from the spiracles or holes in the outer covering of +the creature through which it breathes. It is therefore not always easy to +say how much of the hum is caused by wing vibration and how much by the +action of the spiracles. Some, in fact most, of our solitary bees are +almost silent in flight, and their note can be heard only when large +numbers are flying together; others have a very peculiar shrill hum, by +which even the species can almost be recognized. In bright, hot, sunny +weather their flight is more rapid and their note attains a higher pitch. +The bees with the highest pitched hum with which I am acquainted are the +two smaller species of _Anthophora_ and _Saropoda bimaculata_. + +In early spring, when it is hot in the sunshine and cold when a cloud +covers the sun, it is no unusual thing to see a bee drop to the ground. The +cold seems to paralyze altogether their powers of flight. When at rest a +bee folds its wings along the sides of its back, but only in the wasp tribe +is there the arrangement for them to be {112} folded longitudinally. The +shape of the wings varies very little, but the arrangement and number of +their cells vary considerably. There are some very interesting genera in +which the neuration of some of the cells is so slightly indicated that they +are hardly visible, and can be seen only when the wing is held in certain +lights; these faintly indicated cells are nearly always those towards the +apex of the wing, the neuration of the basal part of the wing being as +strong as in the other genera. There are a few moths in this country which +very much resemble, both in the colour of their bodies and their clear +wings, the wasp tribe, but they may be known by the brown band of scales at +the apex of the wings and also by the absence of the narrow waist, which +exists in all the stinging tribes. The only wingless forms which we know +are to be found amongst the ants and the fossors, and as a rule are +females, but in a few cases in the ants, and in some foreign species of the +genus _Mutilla_, the male is apterous also. + + * * * * * + +{113} + +ON BREEDING ACULEATES, ETC. + +Any one who wishes to study the life-histories of these insects, and has +leisure to do so, can easily obtain various larvæ by digging for them in +suitable places. If, for instance, during the summer, bees, etc., have been +noticed entering holes in a certain bank or sandy spot, their larvæ or +nymphs can be got in the autumn by digging down for about a foot in the +direction of the holes, and if they be brought home and put into glass-top +boxes they will generally emerge at their right time without giving any +further trouble; it must, however, be remembered that the grubs are very +soft and tender skinned, and it is better to avoid handling them if +possible; they should be moved with a small soft camel-hair pencil, and it +is well to put something soft at the bottom of the box so that if they fall +in they will not be damaged. If the wood-boring {114} species are being +collected, care must of course be taken in splitting the wood; most of +these make a pupa case over themselves, and are in that respect easier to +deal with. A label should be put in each box to show where the larvæ, etc., +were found. An old rotten stump of a tree will often produce a good number +of species. Then there are the bramble-stem borers; these can be left in +the stems. I have generally found it convenient, after arriving home, to +split the stems down, to see if there are any living creatures in them, +and, if there are, to close them up again, and, tie a little very fine net +or gauze bag over the top of each stem; in this way one can find out +exactly what insects come from what stem, and determine the cuckoos (if +any) which belong to each. As the season advances towards May, it is well +to give all the larvæ, etc., an occasional glimpse of the sun; they should +not be left in the sun long enough for them to get dried up too much, but +the sun is a very important factor in tempting them to emerge; naked larvæ +and nymphs, in glass-top boxes, should be treated very carefully in this +respect, as they are deprived of their {115} natural surroundings, in which +the actual sunshine would never reach them--it would be better to place +them in a sunny room, screened off from the actual rays of the sun, so that +its warmth only would be felt. If they do not emerge the first year, it +should not be taken for granted that they are dead, as very likely they +will appear in the following spring. I have bred leaf-cutting bees several +times with great success, and others I know have been successful with many +species. The fear is to get them dried up too much; it is therefore not +desirable to keep them in a very hot room. When first the insects emerge, +their hairs are often more or less matted together, and they should be put +in the sun in a larger box, so that they can crawl about and clean +themselves; portions also of the skin in which they have been enveloped +frequently adhere to them for some little time, but as a rule, unless the +creature be too weak, these are very soon cleaned off. Breeding is a +fascinating amusement, but it requires a great deal of attention when the +emerging season begins, as the boxes want constant watching, or the insects +will emerge unnoticed, and, if not given proper {116} air and sunshine, may +die without cleaning themselves properly. + +If it is desired to preserve the specimens, they should be killed either +with cyanide of potassium, ether, or chloroform. If the first of these +agents is used, a piece of about the size of a small hazel nut should be +put at the bottom of a bottle (for collecting purposes, an ordinary +"Coleoptera bottle", which can be obtained from any naturalist's shop, is +the most convenient) and should be kept down by a wad of blotting paper, +well pressed down upon it; this prevents the cyanide, as it liquifies, from +wetting the hairs, etc., of the insects. Over this a piece of white paper +should be placed; this will get stained at once when there is much damp, +and should then be changed. The objections to cyanide are its very +poisonous nature, and the stiffness which is caused by its use to the +specimens killed by it, and also its tendency to turn yellow colours red. I +always use it myself as I think it is preferable to the other insecticides, +notwithstanding its demerits, but then I do not extend the legs and wings +of my specimens, but simply leave them in whatever position they happen to +{117} die. Ether is a very favourite method of killing with many; a few +drops in a bottle with some paper in it is sufficient to last for some +hours; it however soon evaporates in hot weather, and it is necessary to +carry a small phial of it in one's pocket to replenish the supply when +exhausted; this makes one smell of ether perpetually, which is more than I +can stand. But the insects killed in this way are beautifully supple, and, +for those who wish to set their captures as they would _Lepidoptera_, it is +an excellent medium, i.e. if they don't mind its smell; it has also the +benefit of not affecting colour. Chloroform acts much as ether does. When +killed, I strongly recommend collectors to pin their specimens through the +thorax with a very fine pin (those used for micro-lepidoptera are the +best), and then to pin this through a narrow strip of card, mounted on a +long stout pin; in this way the insect can be moved about by the strong +pin, and the thorax of the insect itself is not destroyed, as it often is +in the case of the smaller species by the use of thicker pins. The cards +should be cut as small as possible; they need not be more than a quarter of +an inch long. The insect {118} should be pinned at right angles to the long +axis of the card, and the long pin should be inserted on the right-hand +side of the insect so as not quite to touch it. In this way the insects +look quite as neat as if they were pinned direct. Locality labels, etc., +should be affixed to the long pin, and the insects should be stored in +cabinets or boxes. + + * * * * * + +{119} + +ON COLOUR + +There is but little tendency towards brilliant coloration amongst our +native aculeates. No doubt our comparatively high latitude accounts for +this to some extent, as also the fact that the aculeates do not, as a rule, +elsewhere assume great brilliancy. Even in the tropics and other warm +regions, where bright green, blue or coppery coloured species occur, they +are comparatively few in number. In this country metallic colours are to be +found in less than a dozen species, and in most of these it exists only as +a tinge. Amongst our ants and wasps it does not exist at all, unless the +slight bronziness of the typical form of _Formica fusca_ be so considered. +The fossors can exhibit only a bluish tint in _Mutilla Europæa_ (pl. A, 4, +5), and a slight bronzy tinge in two of quite the smallest species, +_Miscophus maritimus_ and the [male] of _Crabro albilabris_. The bees can +do a little better; five species of _Halictus_ have a distinctly {120} +bronzy head and thorax, and in three the bronzy colour extends to the +abdomen; there is also another with a very dull green tinge on the thorax; +besides these there is a little bright blue bee, _Ceratina_ (unfortunately +a great rarity in this country) and two or three species of _Osmia_, +showing more or less tendency to bronziness, and one which is distinctly +bluish; but, considering our indigenous species number nearly 400, this is +a very small, and compared with other countries I should think an +abnormally small, proportion. + +Species with bodies banded like a wasp's are much more abundant--no less +than eighty of our native kinds having this style of coloration. The bands +may be reduced to lateral spots, but such cases, I think, are only +modifications of the banded scheme. + +Black species with a more or less pronounced red band across the body +number about seventy, and a general testaceous or yellowish colour occurs +in a few ants, but not elsewhere among the British aculeates. Nearly all +the rest are black or dark brown so far as the actual surface of the body +is concerned; but amongst the bees {121} there is often a dense clothing of +coloured hairs sometimes so dense that the surface of the body may be +rendered invisible. These coloured hairs may be distributed into brilliant +bands, as in the humble bees, or they may be uniformly black, as in some of +their varieties and in the females of the spring species of _Anthophora_ +(pl. D, 25), or entirely red as in _Andrena fulva_ (pl. B, 16), or black on +the thorax and red on the abdomen as in _Osmia bicolor_ (pl. D, 28), or +vice versâ as in _Andrena thoracica_, etc., but the most usual condition is +that where the hairs form more or less pale bands along the joints of the +segments, either immediately above or below them or both; sometimes these +bands are very obscurely indicated, and visible only in certain positions. +At others they are vividly white; to a certain extent this banded condition +recalls the waspy coloration. The hairs, however, of the bands are rarely +yellow, but as a rule greyish or white, or of a grade of colour slightly +paler than those of the disc. There are some rather interesting points +which arise out of this rough analysis. Among the bees, all the species +which have a waspy coloration are cuckoos, with only one exception +(_Anthidium_) {122} (pl. D, 27), as are also nearly all those which have +red bands. With the exception of the males of three species of _Halictus_, +and both sexes of three or four species of _Andrena_, all the red-banded +forms belong to the genus _Sphecodes_ (pl. B, 11), which is a cuckoo genus. +The red coloration occurs chiefly on nearly naked surfaces; this is +specially noticeable in those bees which have two varieties, such as +_Andrena rosæ_, one dull coloured and the other red-banded: in these cases +the dull form is hairy and the red nearly naked. The greatest proportionate +number of banded species occurs amongst the fossors, and these are seldom +clothed with hairs to any extent. These bands seem to me probably to depend +a good deal on retarded development. Dark and hairy bands, both as a rule, +follow the joints of the segments, as stated above. I only say as a rule, +as there are many where the banding does not follow this principle, but in +far the larger majority the bands, whether of dark colour or hairs, are +apical. As the segments overlap at the joints it is evident that their +discs would tend to mature more rapidly than the overlapping bases and +apices, {123} and the longer period spent in hardening and drying of the +overlapping parts would favour the development of dark pigment and of +hairs. Many species have the extreme apices of the segments pale, but with +the apical integument so very thin, often looking nearly transparent and +membranous, that its development would be very rapid. Again, in the case of +red coloration, the red generally occurs on the discs of the segments, the +apices and sides often being dark, and in cases where in one species both +black and banded forms occur, with intermediate varieties, the last remnant +of red colour is generally situated in the centre of the segment. By far +the gayest effect is displayed by our humble bees, and, but for them and a +few of the species of _Andrena_ and the wasp-coloured species, our +aculeates would be a very sombre lot. + + * * * * * + +{124} + +THE DEVELOPMENT OF INSECTS FROM THE EGG + +Although this and the following chapter may not be interesting to all my +readers, I think it is only right to add some remarks on the structure and +classification of insects, so that any one who wishes to follow up the +subject may gather a few general ideas which may induce them to take up +some technical and scientific work in which they will get fuller and more +exact data on the difficulties which are involved in such simple questions +as "What is an insect?" "How are the different orders of insects +distinguished from each other?" "What is a species?" etc. + +To realize the characters of an insect in its perfect or "imago" state, we +may for the moment forget what often seems to be its most important +features, and which are frequently its most extensive parts, viz. its limbs +or {125} appendages; by limbs are meant its wings, legs, horns or antennæ, +jaws or mandibles, etc.: strip these all off, and we have a limbless trunk, +which many would not recognize as belonging to an insect at all; still this +limbless trunk possesses characters which assert its insect nature, as it +may be known from other limbless trunks by being divided into three parts +by two great transverse divisions; in most insects these are extremely well +marked, and in all they have a very real existence. The parts thus divided +off are known by the names of head, thorax, and abdomen. Anybody knows how +easy it is to break off the head or body of a dried insect. Now the head or +body breaks off at one of these divisions, and it is this partitioning of +the body into three sections which makes one of the strongest characters in +the definition of an insect. The three parts, thus divided off, each +possesses special functions in the life of the creature. In the head are +contained the principal organs of sense and brain; in the thorax, the +organs of locomotion; and in the body those of digestion, reproduction, +etc. + +This division into three parts does not however {126} always hold good in +the early stages of the insect's life, and we must remember that the +creature commences life on leaving the egg, and not merely on its emergence +from the chrysalis, so that we have to reckon with caterpillars, grubs and +all sorts of curious immature forms in our conceptions of an insect. + +These early stages do not as a rule interest the public much, but it is +well to bear in mind that the "perfect insect" stage is reached by some +insects along apparently a very different road from that travelled by +others. Some leave the egg as caterpillars or grubs, and after various +changes of skin become apparently lifeless chrysalids, from which they +emerge as perfect insects. Others leave the egg as diminutive likenesses of +their parents, and run or hop about much as they do, attaining the perfect +insect stage simply by a series of changes of skin, without any definite +quiescent or chrysalis condition. + +The observation, therefore, which one often hears that insects never grow, +has to be taken with caution; all insects grow in their early stages, but +it is an obvious truth that insects do not {127} grow after they attain the +imago or "perfect insect" condition. A small fly will never become a large +fly, nor a small beetle a large beetle. This is only because we do not +recognize their caterpillars or grubs as flies and beetles; but a +grasshopper we know grows, because its early stages are of the same general +form as the perfect insect, and we see the little ones hopping about in +some places, and if we visit the same place later on we notice that they +have grown, but as soon as they cast their last skin and obtain the free +use of their wings, growth ceases, as it does in a fly or a beetle or in +any other insect. + +It must not be supposed that the limbs of insects are of no value in their +identification. We only removed them in order to emphasize the great +importance of the character derived from the regional constrictions of the +body, which is considered to be certainly one of the most, if not the most, +important of any. Besides this character every perfect insect should have +six legs, four wings, and various appendages on the head, such as antennæ, +mandibles, maxillæ, labium, etc.; some of these may be so modified as +hardly to {128} be recognizable, but they are hardly ever absent +altogether; for instance, the two fore wings of a beetle are modified into +what are called wing cases, and fold over its back, protecting the two hind +wings, which are more or less membranous, as are those of a bee. They have +not the functions of locomotive organs, and are used in flight as poisers. +Again in the case of a fly, the hind wings seem to be absent, but they are +considered to be represented by two little projecting organs which look +like large headed pins or nails, but which are quite useless for locomotive +purposes. + +The organs of the mouth are especially liable to modification, and on these +the older authors used to frame their classification. Insects were divided +by them, primarily, into two great divisions, viz. those which had a biting +and those which had a sucking mouth; treated in this way, the following +orders fall into the division with biting mouths:-- + +_Coleoptera_, or beetles; _Hymenoptera_, or bees, wasps, ants, etc.; +_Orthoptera_ and _Neuroptera_, which include the grasshoppers, earwigs, +cockroaches, dragonflies, May flies, etc. {129} + +And into the division with sucking mouths:-- + +_Lepidoptera_, or butterflies and moths; _Diptera_ or flies, gnats, etc.; +_Hemiptera_, or bugs, including the plant-lice, etc. + +These divisions, however, have not been found to be very satisfactory, +although very simple when dealing only with the perfect insect stage. In +the first place, being framed on this stage only, they are not always +applicable to the earlier phases of the insect's life--for instance, +although a butterfly or moth has a sucking proboscis, their caterpillars +have strong biting jaws, as any gardener well knows. Also bees, wasps, +etc., rather upset the arrangement, as they have not only a sucking mouth +but also strong biting jaws. + +This system of classification has therefore been discarded by most +entomologists in favour of that based on the difference between those +insects which pass through the distinctive stages of caterpillar and +chrysalis on the one hand, and those which emerge from the egg as +diminutive likenesses of their parents on the other. In this arrangement, +the _Coleoptera_, _Hymenoptera_, _Lepidoptera_, _Diptera_ and _Neuroptera_, +fall into the {130} first division, or _Heteromorphæ_ as they are called; +and the _Hemiptera_ and _Orthoptera_ into the second or _Homomorphæ_. The +dragonflies are the only slightly discordant elements in this arrangement, +as, although their larvæ have six legs and walk about under the water and +never assume an actual chrysalis condition, still they can hardly be said +to resemble their gorgeously coloured parents which fly about so +majestically over our ponds, etc.; still this is only one of the many cases +which show that nature cannot be held down by any of the arbitrary rules we +make for her classification. + +The _Hymenoptera_ are therefore characterized and distinguished from other +insects by having both a biting and sucking mouth, four clear wings, and by +passing through the distinctive liveries of caterpillar or grub, and +chrysalis or nymph. It is with this order only with which we have been +dealing. To distinguish the aculeate section from the many other forms of +the _Hymenoptera_ is too complex a task to undertake here, but the presence +of a narrow waist between the thorax and the body, the number of joints in +the antennæ never exceeding thirteen in {131} the male, twelve in the +female, and the presence of a sting capable of ejecting poison in this +latter sex, are the most prominent features by which the aculeates may be +recognized. + + * * * * * + +{132} + +ON STRUCTURE + +Although in the foregoing chapter a little has been said on this subject, +there is a great deal more that a student should learn about the general +form of these creatures. + +They begin life as white or nearly colourless grubs, which, after various +changes of skin, assume what is called the nymph or pupa stage, during +which a change occurs, believed to be peculiar to the _Hymenoptera_; the +fifth segment of the larval body is transferred to the mass which is called +the thorax, so that a portion of what looks like thorax is really the first +segment of the abdomen. Continental writers call this portion sometimes the +first abdominal segment and sometimes the median segment, but Newman gave +it a definite name, the "propodeum", and the most convenient method seems +to be to call it so, and treat it as a part of the thorax, calling the +first or basal segment of the abdomen {133} that which immediately follows +the regional constriction, which occurs between the propodeum and the +abdomen. + +[Illustration] + + FIG. 28. + + _a_ Head. _a_^1 Antennæ. _a_^2 Ocelli. _a_^3 Compound eyes. + + _b_^1 Prothorax. _b_^2 Scutum of Mesothorax. _b_^3 Scutellum of + Mesothorax. _b_^4 Post-Scutellum of Metathorax. _b_^5 Propodeum. + + _c_^1 _c_^2, etc., Segments of Abdomen. + + Legs. _d_^1 Coxa. _d_^2 Trochanter. _d_^3 Femur. _d_^4 Tibia. _d_^5 + Tarsi. _d_^6 Calcaria or Spurs. _d_^7 Unguiculi or claws. _d_^8 + Pulvillus. + + _e_ Front wing. 1 Costal nervure. 2 Post Costal nervure. 3 Median + nervure. 4 Posterior nervure. 5 Basal nervure. 6 Cubital nervure. 10 + 1st Recurrent nervure. 11 2nd Recurrent nervure. + + _f._ Hind wing. 7 Anterior nervure. 8 Median nervure. 9 Posterior + nervure. + + Cells. _A_ Marginal. _B_ Upper basal. _C_ Lower basal. _D_ 1st + Submarginal. _E_ 2nd Submarginal. _F_ 3rd Submarginal. _G_ 1st + Discoidal. _H_ 2nd Discoidal. _I_ 3rd Discoidal. _J_ 1st Apical. _K_ + 2nd Apical. + +{134} The perfect insect when it emerges has therefore a head, a thorax of +four segments, and an abdomen of seven visible dorsal segments in the male, +and of six in the female. The [male] has six ventral segments exposed, and +often the apex of the eighth, which is frequently elongate, the seventh +being almost always short and hidden; the eighth dorsal segment can be +discovered hidden under the seventh, but it is very rarely exposed. The +head (_a_) bears numerous appendages; a pair of antennæ (_a_^1), usually of +thirteen joints in the male and of twelve in the female; two compound eyes +(_a_^3), composed of many facets; three simple eyes (or ocelli) (_a_^2), +which are situated on its vertex; two _mandibles_; two _maxillæ_, bearing +_palpi_ on each side, of a varying number of joints; and a _labium_, or +tongue, which also bears at its base two four-jointed palpi (cf. fig. 20). + +The thorax, as we are considering it, consists of four segments--the +_prothorax_ (_b_^1), which bears the two front legs; the _mesothorax_ +(_b_^2), which bears the intermediate pair of legs and the anterior pair of +wings; and the _metathorax_ (_b_^3), which bears the posterior pair of +wings and the hind legs. The {135} propodeum has no appendages. The +mesothorax above has two parts, a larger portion in front called by some +the _scutum_ (_b_^2), and a smaller portion behind called the _scutellum_ +(_b_^3). These are separated from each other by a transverse impression, +and the scutellum is often raised into a sort of little shield; behind this +is another little elevation called the _post-scutellum_ (_b_^4); this is +really the dorsal apex of the metathorax, and behind this lies the +_propodeum_ (_b_^5). Each leg is composed of various parts, and articulates +into a cavity of the thorax called the _acetabulum_. The first two joints +of the leg, the _coxa_ (_d_^1) and the _trochanter_ (_d_^2), are very +short; then follows the _femur_ or thigh (_d_^3); then the _tibia_ or shin +(_d_^4); and finally the _tarsi_ (_d_^5), which compose the foot. At the +apex of the _tibia_ are usually two spines called the _calcaria_ (_d_^6). +The _tarsi_ are five-jointed, the joints following each other in a linear +arrangement, and in the _Anthophila_ the basal joint is more or less +dilated; the apical joint bears two claws (_unguiculi_, _d_^7) which are +sometimes toothed, and between them, in some genera, there is what is +called a _pulvillus_ (_d_^8) or cushion; this is very large and dilated in +some of the fossors. {136} + +The wing neuration is always rather troublesome, as various authors use +different names for the veins and cells. To begin with the anterior wing +(_e_), there are four nerves which start from the base and run +horizontally; the first of these, which forms the anterior margin of the +wing, is called the _costal nervure_ (1); immediately below this, and +running almost parallel to it with scarcely any space between them, is the +_post-costal nervure_ (2); these end in the _stigma_ (_s_), a dark +in-crassation towards the apex of the wing; from the stigma a nerve, +curving first downwards and then up to the anterior margin of the wing, +encloses the _marginal cell_ (_A_). Below the _post-costal_ nervure, and +situated about the centre of the wing, is the third longitudinal nervure +called the _median nervure_ (3); behind this again runs the _posterior +nervure_ (4), and behind that the actual margin of the wing which is not +provided with a protecting nervure, but is only folded back so as to +receive the hooks of the posterior wing. Across the wing at, roughly, about +a third of its length from the body runs the _basal nervure_ (5); this +extends in a somewhat zigzag line from the _post-costal_ to the _posterior +nervure_ crossing the _median_, and {137} thereby enclosing two cells, the +_upper basal cell_ (_B_) and the _lower basal cell_ (_C_). From the centre +of the apical nerve of each of these cells extends a longitudinal nervure; +the upper of these runs out nearly to the apical margin of the wing and is +called the _cubital nervure_ (6); this is united to the nervure of the +_marginal cell_ by one, two, or three cross nervures, enclosing thereby +one, two, or three cells called the first (_D_), second (_E_), and third +(_F_) _submarginal cells_. The nervure from the lower basal cell is a short +one, as it is met by a cross nervure called the first _recurrent nervure_ +(10), which runs from the _cubital_ to the _posterior_, thereby enclosing +two cells, the first (_G_) and second (_H_) _discoidal_. The _second +recurrent_ (11) leaves the _cubital_ nearer the apex of the wing than the +first, meeting a nervure which, springing from the outer posterior angle of +the second discoidal, closes the third discoidal (_I_), and, curving +slightly upwards, nearly reaches the apical margin of the wing. Beyond the +second recurrent, and behind this last nervure which we have been talking +about, are two spaces not actually enclosed, but called the _first_ (_J_) +_and second_ (_K_) _apical cells_. + +The posterior wings have very few cells. {138} Like the anterior pair they +have three longitudinal nervures; the _anterior_ (7), which runs close and +parallel to the anterior nerveless margin, and often touches it at about +half the length of the wing; the _median_ (8) and _posterior_ (9) run in +diverging lines from the base towards the exterior margin of the wing, the +anterior and median nervures being almost always joined by a cross nervure, +and the median usually united to the posterior by a cross or curved +nervure. The actual base of the anterior wing is covered by a little convex +somewhat shell-like cap, called the _tegula_ (_T_). The abdomen is composed +of a series of segments in linear arrangement (_c_^1 _c_^2, etc.). These +call for no special remark, beyond what has been said in the chapter on +males and females, but those who wish to investigate the very interesting +questions connected with the terminal segments of these creatures should +consult some more technical work.[3] The arrangements of the mouth parts +and of the apical segments of the Hymenoptera afford perhaps the most +important structural {139} characters of the order, but they involve an +amount of dissection and study which can only be undertaken by those who +are inclined to give themselves up to this subject as a speciality. + + * * * * * + + +{141} + +INDEX + + Abdomen, 125 + Acetabulum, 135 + Ammophila, 22 + Andrena, 9, 12, 15, 48, 77, 79, 122, 139 + -- fulva, 121 + -- rosæ, 138 + -- thoracica, 121 + Antennæ, 101, 103, 134 + Anthidium, 50, 121 + Anthophila, 6 + Anthophora, 48, 61, 82, 93, 109, 111, 121 + -- pilipes, 61 + -- retusa, 62 + Ants, 28, 31, 88 + Aphides, 88 + Apis, 16 + Astatus, 103 + + Banded bodies, 120 + Beetles, 20 + Biting, 3, 32 + Black Species, 120 + Bombus, 16 + -- terrestris, 41, 42 + Brain, 125 + Bramble Stems, 12 + Breeding, 113 + Broods, 13 + Burrows, 9 + + Calcaria, 70, 135 + Carder Bees, 40 + Cardines, 75 + Carpenter bee, 55 + Caterpillar, 19, 20 + Cells, 10, 12, 28, 29, 40, 58 + -- hexagonal, 28 + -- pitcher-shaped, 58 + -- waxen, 29, 40 + Ceratina, 47, 128 + Chimneys, 25 + Chloroform, 118 + Chrysis, 27 + Cilissa, 48 + Cleaning hairs, 68 + Clover fertilization, 39 + Cockroaches, 128 + Cocoons, 33, 58 + Coleoptera, 128, 129 + Colletes, 44 + Colonies, 5, 63 + Colour, 100 + Colour schemes, 22 + Combs, 23, 68, 69 + Corbicula, 67 + Coxæ, 135 + Crabro, 95, 102 + -- albilabris, 119 + Cuckoos, 3, 14, 30, 54 + -- flight of, 85 + Cyanide, 116 + + Dasypoda, 48 + Development, 124 + Digestion, 125 + Diggers, 6, 7 + {142} + Diptera, 129 + Distribution, 105 + Domestication, 41 + Drone flies, 3 + Dufourea, 106 + + Earwigs, 128 + English names, 55 + Epeolus, 45 + Ether, 117 + Eyes, 134 + + Females, 95 + Femur, 135 + Figwort, 36 + Figure of insect, 133 + Flies, 3, 129 + Flower lovers, 6 + Flute, 57 + Food, 6, 28 + Foot, 135 + Formica, 34, 59 + -- fusca, 119 + -- sanguinea, 89 + Formicoxenus, 96 + Fossors, 6, 7 + + Galleries, 28 + Grasshoppers, 19, 128 + Growth, 126 + Guests of Ants, 89 + + Hairs, 65, 71 + Halictus, 13, 15, 17, 77, 94, 97, 119, 122 + Head, 125 + Hemiptera, 129, 130 + Heterogyna, 28, 31 + Heteromorphæ, 130 + Hive bee, 2, 16 + Homing instinct, 21 + Homomorphæ, 130 + Honey pots, 29 + Hornets, 35 + Humble bees, 39 + -- mutilated, 41 + Hymenoptera, 128, 129 + + Ichneumons, 21 + Inquilines, 3 + + Jewel flies, 21, 27 + + Keyhole wasps, 101 + Killing bottles, 126 + Knife-like hairs, 68 + + Labels, 118 + Labial palpi, 5 + Labium, 127, 134 + Larva, 11, 13 + Lasius niger, 91 + -- flavus, 91 + Latin names, 55 + Lawn bee, 9 + Leaf-cutting bees, 52 + Lepidoptera, 129 + Ligula, 75, 134 + Limbs, 125, 127 + Locomotion, 125 + Lodgers with ants, 89 + Lomechusa, 89 + Long-horned bee, 104 + Lora, 74 + Lysimachia, 106 + + Macropis, 106 + Males, 95 + Male wasp, 2 + -- hornet, 2 + Mandibles, 127, 129 + Mason bee, 55 + Maxillæ, 75, 127, 134 + Mayflies, 128 + {143} + Melecta armata, 61 + -- luctuosa, 62 + Mentum, 74 + Metoecus paradoxus, 38 + Mimicking flies, 94 + Miscophus, 119 + Moss, 29 + Mouse's nest, 29 + Mouth, 128 + Mutilla, 112, 119 + Myrmica, 34 + Myrmosa, 100 + + Nests, 24, 26, 31, 35, 45, 49 + -- in bramble stems, 45 + -- Humble bees, 40 + -- of leaves, 53 + -- of paper, 37 + -- in wren's nest, 41 + Neuration, 136 + -- figure and explanation of, 133 + Neuroptera, 128, 129 + Nodes, 33 + Nomada, 15, 48 + Non-predaceous hymenoptera, 3 + Nymph, 11 + + Odynerus, 24 + Orthoptera, 128, 130 + Osmia, 48, 56, 120 + -- bicolor, 59, 121 + -- inermis, 58 + -- leucomelana, 57 + -- parietina, 58 + -- rufa, 56 + Ovaries, 4 + Ovipositer, 1 + Oxybelus, 86 + + Palm, 82 + Palpi, 134 + Panurgus, 49 + Paper, 37 + Paraglossæ, 76 + Paralytics, 18 + Plant lice, 19 + Poison bags, 1 + Pollen collecting, 65 + Pompilus, 87 + Ponera, 33 + Porterage, 34 + Post-scutellum, 135 + Predaceous species, 3 + Preservation, 116 + Propodeum, 132, 135 + Prosopis, 44, 46 + -- cornuta, 47 + Pulvillus, 135 + + Queens, 4 + + Rarity, 105 + Ray, John, 63 + + Sallows, 82 + Sandy bank, 83 + Saropoda, 93, 111 + Scale, 33 + Scrophularia, 36 + Scutellum, 135 + Scutum, 135 + Segments, 96 + Setting, 117 + Sexual structure, 100 + Shin, 135 + Snail shells, 12, 57 + Social species, 3, 4, 28 + Solitary species, 3, 4, 6 + Spade-like hairs, 69 + Sphecodes, 13, 15, 17, 48, 97, 122 + Spiders, 19 + Stinging, 2, 38 + Stings, 2, 32 + Stipes, 74 + {144} + Straws, 12 + Structure, 132 + Stylops, 77 + Submentum, 74 + Swarming, 29 + + Tarsi, 135 + Tegula, 133, 138 + Thigh, 135 + Thorax, 125, 129 + Tibia, 135 + Tomtit, 42 + Tongues, 15, 39, 44, 49, 66, 72 + Trochanter, 135 + Tubular entrance, 25 + + Unguiculi, 135 + + Vagaries of structure, 104 + Velleius dilatatus, 38 + Vespa sylvestris, 36 + + Walls, 12 + Wasps, social, 35 + -- solitary, 24 + Waspy coloration, 120, 121 + Wings, 110 + -- cells, 112, 133 + -- folded, 24, 28 + -- hooks, 110 + -- nervures, 133 + Workers, 4 + Wrens' nests, 41 + + Yellow-coloured species, 120 + + * * * * * + + +NOTES + +[1] In this case, only the actual tongue (or _ligula_) and its _paraglossæ_ +are figured. + +[2] _The Guests of Ants and Termites_, by E. Wasmann, S. J., translated by +H. Donisthorpe, F.Z.S. (_Ent. Record_, Vol. xii., 1900.) + +[3] cf. _Transactions of the Entomological Society of London_, 1884, p. 251 +et seq.: Hymenoptera Aculeate of the British Islands, etc. + + + +[Illustration] + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Wild Bees, Wasps and Ants, by Edward Saunders + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WILD BEES, WASPS AND ANTS *** + +***** This file should be named 33874-8.txt or 33874-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/3/8/7/33874/ + +Produced by Chris Curnow, Keith Edkins and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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