NESTING HABITS OF SOME AXTHIDIIXE BEES. 2J5 



same place; another repeatedly visited a more distant source. 

 This latter was usually found to reject several pieces of chaff, 

 etc., before taking one to the nest (h). 



The female of this species (bee C) was seen to mate twice within 

 three days. The first mating, on September 13, is recorded in 

 field-notes given on page 270. The second mating is given 

 in the following extraction: On September 16, bee C leaves 

 nest i, which is now almost totally plugged up with chaff, 

 etc., and flies to some flowers of Grindelia to feed. She then 

 flies to some small sunflowers nearby and feeds there also. 

 Finally she goes to a flower of Lygodesmia juncea. While feeding 

 there, a male arrives and they mate. This mating takes sixty- 

 five seconds. The female is grasping the stamens of the flower 

 with the fore and mid legs and is touching the hind legs repeatedly 

 on those of the male. This is apparently the first record of a 

 wild bee mating more than once (c). 



The male has been observed to await at the colony the return 

 of a female. As soon as she arrives, he darts at her to effect 

 copulation and in some cases they collide in mid-air, both falling 

 to the ground. The female, with partially outstretched wings, 

 rests motionless except for a slight movement of the hind legs 

 on those of the male. The male has the female grasped around 

 the third abdominal segment with the forelegs and beneath the 

 abdomen with mid and hind legs while the tips of his antennae 

 are bent forwards and outwards. His only movement is a 

 relaxation and contraction of the abdominal segments and a 

 slight waving of the tips of the antennae. The average time for 

 copulation, from seven examples, is very close to a minute 

 (59.7 sec.). We have observed that mating may occur both at 

 the colony and at the flower while the female is feeding. Al- 

 though the male is absent from the colony most of the time, 

 nevertheless the majority of the matings observed have taken 

 place at the nest. 



Mating probably does not interfere with the nest-building 

 activities as evidenced by the field notes on the first mating of 

 bee C. Furthermore, a female has been seen, returning laden 

 with pollen, to mate, after which she immediately went into the 

 cell, deposited the pollen and went on with her work. 



