268 



ELEMENTARY ENTOMOLOGY 



None of the short-tongued bees live in colonies, and many of 

 them make their nests in the ground, which has given them the 



name of 'mining bees." Their tunnels are 

 usually branched, each branch terminating in 

 a single cell, which is lined with a sort of 

 glazing. After this cell is filled with nectar 

 and pollen, the egg is laid and the cell is then 

 sealed up. Quite commonly, large numbers 

 of these tunnels will be found near together, 



FIG. 426. A common 



short-tongued bee (An- 



drena sp.). (Slightly 



enlarged) 



forming large villages. Some of the smaller 

 forms mine into the sides of sand banks and 

 cliffs, their numerous holes making the surface 

 appear as if it had received a charge from a 

 shotgun. These little females of the genus 

 Halictns have the interesting habit of making FlG 42 _ A m i n i n g. 

 a common burrow into a bank and then each bee (Haiictns lenntxii 

 making a side passage to her own cells, so va , r - nibontm c^ 1 -)- 



(Slightly enlarged) 



that, as Professor Comstock aptly remarks, 

 ' While Andre na builds villages composed of individual homes, 

 Halictus makes cities composed of apartment houses." 



FIG. 428. The leaf-cutter bee and a leaf-covered cell removed from its burrow. 



(Natural size) 



(After Linville and Kelly) 



