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
carefully studied by Prof. Carpenter and Mr. Pack Beresford. Vespa vulgaris has a beetle parasite, but this is somewhat of a rarity. This creature Metœcus 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.
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.
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
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
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.