hours very energetically and eagerly seek for these nests, and enjoy the sweet store. Bears, badgers, foxes, and other forest animals, humble-bee's nest very delicious.

also find the

These last are

not nice in their tastes, but with the delicious honey also devour the grubs in their cells.

In the winter months the male and worker humble-bees die, leaving the poor forlorn females to creep into some warm protected corner, where they may repose in a torpid state till life-giving

summer comes again, bringing joy and gladness in her train, and scattering flowers and plenty in her path.

The solitary bees already mentioned do not store honey, but show great ingenuity in making provision for their young.

There are in these species only males and females, and no workers.

It is the lady-bee who does all the labour in providing a habitation wherein to place her eggs. Someindeed, all—of these dwellings are very curious. The female bee of one species makes an abode by first boring a cylindrical hole, generally horizontally, in the earth. This she carefully lines with a gelatinous liquid secreted in her own body; and throughout this cylinder are placed a succession of cells, like tiny thimbles fitting inside each other, made from the same gummy fluid dried into a transparent membrane, just leaving a little space at the end of each for the reception of an egg and a tiny ball of bee-bread, on which the grub may feed as soon as it comes out of its shell.

Some of these solitary bees gnaw out nests for themselves in old wood; others tunnel in the soft pith of decayed brambles and briers, using the excavated material to make cells.

The most remarkable of all the nests made by an unaided female is, perhaps, one looking almost like a splash of mud on a wall. When the mother

bee begins to build this uncomfortable-looking home,

she collects a few grains of sand, mixes them up into a ball with a kind of saliva, and carries it to the nearest wall or bank. This she keeps doing until sufficient material is gathered to form a cell, wherein, when complete, she places an egg and a small portion of paste. She then seals it down, and proceeds to the making of another, and continues building until sufficient cells are made for the accommodation of all her young. During her operations, however, she has to keep a very sharp look-out, as the instincts of these bees are of a very thievish character, and at any moment another of her kind may take possession of her finished cells, throw out the eggs, and deposit others in their place. In such cases the builder fights desperately for her rights, sometimes coming off victorious, sometimes losing her life in the combat.

No wonder that the great and learned of all time have been interested in bees. "Verily herein is a sign unto people who consider."

Himself it was prophesied "Butter and honey shall He eat, that He may know to refuse the evil and choose the good."

Generally speaking, we have entirely lost sight of the value of honey as a food, using it as we do for a

palatable relish merely. The ancients, however, appear to have regarded it as being not only nourishing, but a medicine good for the body; also attributing to it, more or less properly, the power of strengthening the intellect, as we gather from the above statements.

Now the collecting of honey is to the bee her life and her joy. Although she looks so business-like when she dips into a flower-cup, pops her head down and energetically drinks in the nectar hidden in its inmost recesses, the whole time ready with her formidable sting to repel any creature attempting to molest her, she is evidently enjoying herself. When she has exhausted the store of one blossom, she almost invariably flies to another

BEE'S MOUTH.

of the same kind, carrying away on her body some of the pollen or flower-dust, and leaving it on the next bloom to which she lays siege. Bees are credited because of this, and very reasonably, with having a large share in the fertilisation of flowers.

As they are remarkable, perhaps it may be as well to briefly describe the organs used for gathering and carrying honey.

The lower lip of the working bee is elongated so as to form a kind of proboscis. When not in use, this lip is folded up; but when the honey which she seeks