Aristotle's History of Animals In Ten Books · Aristotle
CHAPTER XXIX.
1. The wild bees do not live by gathering honey from flowers like the bees, but are entirely carnivorous, for which reason they frequent the neighbourhood of dung; for they pursue large flies, and when they have taken them they tear off the head and fly away, carrying the rest of the body with them. They will also eat sweet fruit. This, then, is the nature of their food. They have rulers, like the bees and wasps; and in proportion to the size of the wild bee these rulers are larger than those of the bees and wasps. Their rulers also keep in the nest, like those of the wasps. 2. The wild bees make their nest under the soil, which they remove like the ants. They never swarm like bees, neither do wasps; but the young ones always remain with them, and as the nest increases they carry out the heap of earth. The nests become large; and from a flourishing nest three or four baskets of comb have been taken. They do not lay up any food like bees, but conceal themselves during the winter. The greater number of them die, but it is not known whether all of them perish. There is never more than one ruler in the nest as in the swarm of bees, or they would divide the nest.
3. When some of the wild bees wander from the nest, they turn aside to some material and form another nest, such as are often seen on the surface of the soil, and in this they work themselves out a ruler; and when he is grown he goes out and leads them with him to take possession of a nest, in which they may dwell. No one has ever made any observation on the mode of sexual intercourse in the wild bee, nor on the origin of their offspring. Among bees the drones and kings have no stings, and some of the wasps also are without stings, as it has been remarked already; but all the wild bees appear to have stings, but more accurate inquiry should be instituted as to the rulers, whether they have stings or not. The humble bees produce their young under stones on the surface of the ground in two or a few more cells. The commencement of a kind of inferior honey is found in them. The tenthredo is like the wild bee, but it is variegated, and as broad as the bee. It is a dainty creature, and the only one which resorts to kitchens, and enjoys fish and such like things. It deposits its young under the earth like the wasps. It is a very productive creature, and its nest is much larger and longer than that of the wasp. This is the nature of the work and economy of bees, wasps, and their congeners.
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