36 BOMBAY' NATUBAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 



I feel that I can drop tbe apologetic tone at length ay hen I 

 ask your attention to the last group of the Aculeata, viz., the 

 Antliophila or Bees. The Andrenidtc are solitary species of small 

 size and dull colouring. Many of them nest in crevices of walls, 

 hut some burrow in the ground. Unless looked for most of the 

 species are likely to pass unnoticed. The Apiclcc, in addition to the 

 social honey bees of the genus Apis, contain a number of solitary 

 genera. Megachile comprises a great number of species, some of 

 which are very common. M. lanata may be heard humming about 

 the room at almost any time of the year. She builds a tube of 

 mud, which is divided off into cells, each containing an egg and 

 a supply of " bread." This tubular nest is put in the 

 most extraordinary places, inside a boot left unworn for a 

 couple of days, among clothes exposed on a shelf, in a 

 gun barrel, in a shell, between books on shelf, &c, &c. 

 Some of the Megachile lino their mud tubes with a membrane 

 evolved out of themselves, but many use cuttings of leaves which are 

 made neatly into cigarettes, and fitted into burrows in the ground. 

 Though solitary, Megachile is said to be sometimes gregarious. 

 Be that as it may, Xylocapa, the Carpenter Bee, is almosl 

 always gregarious. The large holes so often seen in old dead 

 trees, looking as if bored with an augur, are the work of Xylo- 

 ca-jpa. Though a hundred and more species have been made in this 

 genus, to the ordinary observer the greater number are indistin- 

 guishable. A largo blue-black Bumble-bee, making a very loud 

 buzzing in its flight, is a description which will cover very many 

 species. There are however brown species which are crepuscular 

 if not nocturnal. CcrU'oxys, another genus, is said to be parasitic 

 in the nests of Xylocapa. It has been bred from nests of Xylocapa, 

 but that it is parasitic seems to me to need furthur proof. Finally, 

 of the Api'lcs with which the classification of our Hymenoptera 

 closes, we have three common species, viz., Floralis, the maker 

 of what is known as "fly honey,'' is the smallest. Nigro-cincta, much 

 larger in size, is common in our gardens, and in places is said to have 

 been successfully domesticated, while the giant Indica is for the 

 most part an inhabitant of the jungles. Building huge combs on big 

 -ti*ees, or on the face of precipices, this bee constitutes himself the 

 Raja of the whole region. Woe to him who disturbs Apis Indica 

 by daylight. ITe will be lucky if he escapes with his life. Like the 

 wasps, the Social Bees have winged workers, but unlike the wasps 



