THEODOKE H. FRISOX 149 



(1911) reports this species from Ceanothus. No doubt this list 

 of phints visited by the bees of this species could be considerably 

 increased and thus we are dealing with a polytropic bee. 



I. NiDIFICATION AND FEEDING HaBITS OF THE LaRVAE 



The females of Anthophora ahrupta in 1919 laid their first eggs 

 some time between July 3 and July 11. On July 11, 1919, I 

 found the eggs to be deposited on a very soft, almost watery 

 paste of pollen. Judging by the anthophilous habits of the 

 adults and certain habits of other bees I feel sure the fluid used 

 to moisten the pollen was regurgitated nectar. In general the 

 egg-laying habits are similar to those observed for Anthophora 

 stanfordiana and Emphor fuscojubatus by Nininger, Grossbeck 

 and Nichols. When the cells are broken open any of the watery 

 paste of pollen that spills out and comes into contact with the 

 soil surrounding the cell is quickly absorbed. This is further 

 evidence that the cell of this bee is rendered impervious to soil 

 water by some kind of treatment by the adult. Otherwise the 

 earthen cell would absorb at least a portion of the regurgitated 

 nectar, and the pollen mixed with it and stored in the cell as 

 larval food would dry out. The eggs are pearly white and have 

 the same general appearance as those of bumblebees (Prison, 

 1917). One egg that I measured was two and one-half milli- 

 meters long and somewhat less than one millimeter wide. A 

 single egg is laid in each completed and stored cell, which is 

 then tightly closed by the mother bee. It is worth noting that 

 the pollen-nectar food mass has a very pungent and offensive 

 odor. I have no data on the duration of the egg stage but 

 presume it is a matter of three or four days. The emerging 

 larvae attain their full development on the provisions placed in 

 their cell by the female bee before the egg is laid and the cell 

 closed. Kellogg states that in the case of Anthophora stan- 

 fordiana "the food is carried to the 3'oung in the open cell." 

 Nininger, who studied the same species, says that this is not 

 true and that the cells are tightly sealed after the eggs are laid. 

 Therefore, Anthophora ahrupta and stanfordiana hae very sim- 

 ilar habits and probably no larvae of Anthophora are fed daily 

 by the adult bees. According to both Grossbeck and Nichols 

 the eggs of Emphor fuscojubatus are deposited upon a mass of 

 pollen from Hibiscus moschatus, and the emerging larvae ac- 



TR.\NS. AM. EXT. SOC, XLVIII. 



