THE HOMING OF THE BURROWING-BEES. 253 



Several of the walks of Haines Normal School, Augusta, Ga., 

 are separated from the adjacent flower beds by bricks inclined in 

 such a manner as to form a serrated border of wedges of bricks ; 

 each wedge being about two inches high and something over 

 four inches wide at the base. One of these flower beds, which 

 was quite sandy, contained, in its center, a patch of nasturtiums. 

 About two feet from the bricks, and parallel to the border, there 

 extended, throughout the bed, a narrow row of violets. The 

 remainder of the bed was bare. In a barren spot in this bed, 

 adjacent to an inverted tin cap of a coca-cola bottle, and within 

 an inch of the northern face of one of the bricks that formed the 

 serrated border, a burrowing-bee had excavated a burrow. The 

 nest was discovered at nine A. M., August 8, 1908. The sun 

 was shining brightly at the time ; but the nest, which was situated 

 a little to the west of the southern wall of a large three-story 

 brick building, was in the shadow. A gentle breeze was blowing 

 from the south. At the time mentioned, the bee was busy col- 

 lecting pollen and storing it in the burrow. The flowers from 

 which it obtained its supply must have been quite remote, for it 

 required about thirty minutes to make a trip. 



For convenience, the brick before which the burrow was located 

 was designated zero and bricks to the west of it IV^, IV^, W^ 

 etc., in regular succession. Likewise the bricks to the east were 

 named E^, E^, E^, etc. 



The field from which the bee obtained its pollen was situated 

 to the south of the school, and the burrow of the bee was located 

 to the north of the brick border. On arriving from its forage, 

 the bee would reach the brick border at, or near, brick W^^. It 

 then would turn about so as to face the northern surface of the 

 brick border. Then hovering at about an inch and a half from 

 the ground and about the same distance from the bricks, the bee 

 would sidle along. Usually its movement was toward the east ; 

 but, occasionally, it would retrograde westward a short distance 

 and then resume its eastward progress. On reaching the brick 

 before which its nest was located, it would drop immediately 

 into its burrow. After remaining in the burrow a few minutes, 

 the bee would depart, without stopping to explore the surround- 

 ings. Several trips of the bee were observed carefully and in 



