v] BEES 63 



and almost destitute of hair. So scant is their hair, 

 and so insignificant the brush for collecting pollen 

 that these bees were for a time unjustly suspected of 

 cuckoo habits. They make their nests in the steins 

 of brambles, or of dock, or in wooden posts, or in holes 

 in walls. When utilising plant stems they burrow 

 down the pith, and are particularly fond of availing 

 themselves of the bramble stems which have been cut 

 off by hedge-trimmers ; in the cut stems the pith is 

 exposed and so the bee is saved the labour of gnaw- 

 ing through the wood. Examination of cut bramble 

 stems, whether living or dead, in autumn and winter 

 is sure to reveal holes bored by Prosopis, or possibly 

 by other bees. If such stems are carefully opened 

 the cells of Prosopis, recognisable by the thin skin 

 enveloping them, are sure to be found. The cells are 

 provisioned with honey, or with a mixture of honey 

 and pollen obtained from flowers of bramble, migno- 

 nette, stonecrop, spurge, hawkweed and other plants. 

 Occasionally one of the ruby-wasps may be found in 

 "cuckoo" occupation of the Prosopid cell. Most, and 

 perhaps all, the Prosopids emit, when handled, a 

 peculiar, but quite agreeable scent : that of P. signata 

 always reminds me of the lemon-scented verbena. 



The short-pointed-tongued Bees (Andrenidae). 



In point of number of species this section is by 

 far the most numerous of our British bees, more than 



