vi] LONG-POINTED-TONGUED BEES 77 



this species burrowing in partly decayed wooden 

 posts. The female 0. rufa is readily recognisable 

 by the possession of stout horn-like outgrowths on 

 the face. Another less common species, O. leuco- 

 melana, usually tunnels its way into the pith of 

 bramble stems, but is recorded by the late Mr Ed. 

 Saunders as nesting in the side of a sandy road. 

 O. bicolor, again, nests either in banks or in empty 

 snail-shells. Mr V. R Perkins observed that in some 

 instances after the snail-shells had been filled with 

 cells, the little bees covered them up with short 

 pieces of " bents " so as to form a small hillock two 

 or three inches in height and about six inches round 

 the bottom. Mr F. Smith, in his Catalogue of British 

 Hymenoptera in the British Museum, tells of an 

 Osmia which, having selected a large snail-shell for 

 her nest, on reaching the wider whorls of the shell 

 departed from the usual custom of building the cells 

 in single file, and placed two cells side by side across 

 the cavity. Many other instances might be adduced 

 of species of Osmia adapting their behaviour to meet 

 special circumstances. They are undoubtedly among 

 the most intelligent of all the solitary bees. 



The Osmiae are all rather short, stout bees 

 perhaps the word "cobby" best describes their general 

 build : they possess very long tongues, and all their 

 mouth parts are decidedly elongate. They are thus 

 able to reach to the bottom of such deep flowers as 



