282 BRITISH BEES. 



be perpetuated by the perpetuation they supply to that 

 which supports them, and in this circle of reciprocal 

 good offices lend an additional charm to the genial sea- 

 sons, by the animation which they give to the face of 

 nature, in embellishing the plants they visit with their 

 vivacity and music. 



These bees are gay insects, for both sexes are richly 

 spotted with yellow, and they present the single instance 

 which occurs amongst our bees of the male being con- 

 siderably the largest, and so boisterous is he in his 

 amours that he forcibly conveys his partner to the upper 

 regions of the air, where she is compelled to yield to his 

 solicitations. His whole structure is fully adapted to 

 carry out this violent abduction, as well in 'the length 

 and power of his limbs as in the prehensile teeth with 

 which the apex of his abdomen is armed. 



We have but one species of the genus, although the 

 southern parts of the Continent abound in them. The 

 habits of ours differ very considerably from those of the 

 preceding genus. First, in the peculiarity just described, 

 and then in the formation of their nests. They do 

 not, like the majority of the wild bees, excavate or bore 

 a cavity for themselves, but take one already formed 

 by the xylophagous larva of some considerable insect, 

 such as Cerambyx moschatus, or Cossus ligniperda. 

 This they line, to the depth suitable to them, with 

 cottony down which they scrape from the leaves or 

 stalk of the Woolly Hedge-nettle (Stacliys Germanica), 

 the Wild Lychnis (Agrostemma) , and other woolly- 

 leaved plants. In collecting this wool the insect is 

 very active, scraping it off rapidly with its broad man- 

 dibles, and as this is doing she gradually rolls it up 

 into a little ball, making with the vibration of her wings 



