The bees peculiar to South America have no sting: these are the Meliponas. These ([Fig. 332]) are more compactly formed than our bees, have a more hairy body, and are smaller in size. Very numerous in the virgin forests, they make their nests in the hollows of trees. The wax produced by them is brown, and of an indifferent quality. Under thick leaves of wax are found cakes, with hexagonal cells, containing the males, females, and neuters. The cells of the larvæ are closed by the workers, and the larvæ spin themselves a cocoon inside. All around the cradles are large round cells, entirely different in form from the cradles, in which the honey is stored. It is probable that the males, the workers, and the females, live together in great harmony, and even that there is in each nest more than one female, for the absence of the sting must prevent any combats. If a few cakes of the Melipona's honeycomb are moved into the hollow of a tree, they always found there a new colony. We may conclude from this that the workers procure for themselves females whenever they want them by means of a special sort of food. The savage inhabitants of the American forests collect this honey; but, with the carelessness of uncivilised man, they at the same time destroy the nests of these precious insects. They have now begun to domesticate certain species of Meliponas, by introducing them into earthen pots or wooden cases. These insects have been brought to Europe, but they have always perished in the first cold weather. During the summer of 1863 there was, in the Museum of Natural History of Paris, a nest of Melipona scutellaris from Brazil, but it did not prosper.
The Humble or Bumble Bees.
If in the month of March one passes through the fields, which are beginning to get green, or through the woods, still deprived of their leaves, there may be seen, hovering hither and thither, great hairy insects, resembling gigantic bees. These are the females of a species of bee, called by the French "bourdons," from the buzzing noise they produce; and by us "humble bees," probably from their German name "hummel," given for the same reason. These females have been awakened by the spring sun. They examine the cavities of stones, the heaps of moss, and the holes in banks, &c., seeking for a suitable spot to construct a nest for their progeny.
The humble bees are of the same family as the bees, whom they resemble in their organisation. Like them, they are divided into males, females, and neuters, or workers. But their companies only last a year. At the end of autumn the whole population has become extinct, with the exception of the pregnant females, which pass the winter in a state of torpor at the bottom of some hole, where they wait till the spring to perpetuate their race. Their societies comprise generally only a small number of individuals, from fifty to three hundred. They are of peaceful habits, their ephemeral existence beginning and ending with the flower season.
Fig. 333.—Male Humble Bee.
The humble bees are known by their great size, their short, robust body, encircled by bands of very bright colours, and by the noise they make in flying. Their hind legs are armed with two spurs. The females and the workers have the same organisation for plundering flowers as the bees have: they have similar trunks, and their legs are fitted with brushes and baskets for gathering pollen. The males, like the males of hive bees, have no sting. The greater number have their dwelling-places underground; others make their nests on the surface of the soil, in the cracks of walls, in heaps of stones, &c. The former establish themselves in cavities situated as far as half a yard underground, and approached by a long narrow gallery. It is almost always a solitary female who has been the architect of the nest. She cleans out the cavity she has chosen, makes it as smooth as possible, and lines it with leaves and moss, to embellish the subterranean house in which she is to pass nearly all her existence.
The Moss Humble Bee (Bombus muscorum), called also the Carding Bee, chooses an excavation of very little depth in which to make its nest, or else itself undertakes the hollowing out of a hole in the ground. It covers this with a dome of moss or dry herbs. But it does not fly when transporting the moss, it drags it along the ground, with its back turned towards the nest. Having seized a packet of the moss, it sets to work to draw out the bits with its mandibles, and then pushing them under its body, throws them in the direction of the nest by a sort of kick from its hind legs. Sometimes, towards the end of the season, many humble bees are to be seen working in line. The first seizes the moss, and after having carded it, passes it under its body, and throws it to the second, which throws it on to the third, and so on, up to the nest. When the materials are ready, the insect makes use of them to manufacture a sort of hemispherical lid, or covering, resembling felt, which shuts the nest in, and is lined with wax. If you lift up this covering, or small dome, which it is not dangerous to do, for humble bees are not very aggressive, you find beneath it a nest composed of a coarse comb.