NESTING HABITS OF SOME ANTIIIDIINE BEES. 26l 



4 : 2 9' 33"- Neither have come back. 



4 : 31'. Wasp back. Looks in and flies away. Back again 

 soon. Looks in. Goes in. Flies away in a circle. Back to 

 nest. In. Out with some down in mandibles. In again and 

 out with down in mandibles. Six more trips in and out with 

 down. Then out dragging larva by head. Gets larva half out 

 and puts back in at once as though she sees mistake. In and 

 out with five more loads of down. Is now 4 : 35'. Comes out 

 again with load of down at which time bee returns flying at wasp 

 and hitting her a number of times. Bee then enters hole. Wasp 

 is back very soon again. Enters hole in which bee is in but 

 backs out at once. Follows an active four minutes in which the 

 wasp repeatedly flies about hole, returns to it, looks in, flies 

 away a few inches, back, etc. The bee is well up the tunnel 

 blocking the entrance, during this period. The wasp flies away. 



4 : 41'. A. porter x is still in the hole but has gone down so 

 that cannot see her. 



4 : 42' 55". Bee out. Flies around and back into tunnel. 

 Goes down into cell. 



4 : 46' 10". Wasp flying rather high over nest but does not 

 stop. 



4 : 48' 20". A. porterx out. Flies a few feet away and back 

 carrying nothing. 



4 : 53' 20". Repeats above. 



4 : 55' 20". Repeats. 



4 : 57'. Bee backs out dragging larva carried in by wasp to 

 the outside. Drops 2 inches from nest. Enters. Out head 

 first. Leaves. 



5 : 01' 02". Back with down. 



From this time until 6 : 30 the bee carried 17 loads of down. 

 The wasp was not seen again. The next day the bee carried 18 

 loads of down. The day was partly cloudy. On August 4, by 

 10 o'clock the bee was collecting pollen and by 9 : 15 A.M., 

 August 5, the nest was complete with the tunnel filled with 

 pebbles to the surface of the earth (h). 



Anthidium bees have been observed by many students to use 

 down from various plants growing in the vicinity of the nests. 

 Fabre (2) found that some would even readily make use of that 



