574 IOWA DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE 



In the collection Illustrated there is another long-tongued bee — a cuckoo 

 bee (Coelioxys, b), which entrusts its young to the care of the leaf-cutter 

 bee. There are also three short-tongued bees— the miner bee (Andrena, 

 c), and two bright-colored cuckoo bees which impose upon miner bees 

 (Spechodes d. and Nomada, e). The wasps gathered are all solitary. 

 There are two huge caterpillar-gathering ground wasps (Sphex h and i), 

 a spider-catching mud wasp (Pelopeus, j), and several smaller wasps. 

 A few species of flies sip from this flower, also a few small butterflies, 

 such large scale-winged creatures as the monarch and swallowtail seem- 

 ing to steer clear of it. As the bugs and beetles are probably not after 

 nectar, we pass them by. 



Although we had clover plots under hourly observation for four days, 

 only one bumblebee was noticed. This creature was evidently either a 

 novice untaught in the traditions of the bumblebee world, or a pioneer 

 in quest of something new. 



To the honey bee group of plants also belong several other important 

 plants of the clover type — the yellow sweet clover and the white and 

 alsike clover. Here also are the vervain, which fills so many of our 

 pastures and keeps the bee world busy for most of the summer; the 

 woodsage, catnip and motherwort among the mints; and in the sun- 

 flower family the cup-plant, heliopsis, crown-beard, Joe Pye weed, thoro- 

 wort, and others. 



The third class, that of the tubeless flowers, will here be represented 

 by the wild parsnip (Fig. 7), a yellow-flowered weed which comes to us 

 from Europe and is the original of the parsnip of our gardens. I chose 

 the flower because of the wonderful variety of its insect visitors. The 

 fleshy disk which secretes the nectar is fully exposed, and this, together 

 with the conspicuous color and odor of its umbrella-like clusters, en- 

 ables the flower to serve as the banquet-table for the multitudes. 



Let us notice a few individuals of this vast assemblage (Fig. 2). 

 F'irst, there is the honey bee (a), eager to get a proboscis in the com- 

 petition for sweets. Then comes a burly bumblebee (b), whose tribe 

 Is not very abundantly represented. There are several of the smallest 

 of the short-tongued miner bees (Halictus c, d, e), a race that is de- 

 nied admission to the two first types, and a cuckoo which lays in the 

 mine of Halictus (Sphecodes, f). 



Next are twelve species of wasps: The socially inclined being which 

 inhabits the well known paper nests that hang from our ceilings (Polis- 

 tes, g) ; the yellow jacket which builds a huge home of paper, generally 

 in some underground cavity (Vespa, h) ; a little wasp which com- 

 monly adapts a hollow stem, a key-hole, or some other ready-made 

 cavity, and stocks it with little caterpillars (Odynerus, i) ; two kinds 

 of burrowing wasps that prey on spiders (Pompilus, j and k) ; a potter 

 wasp that builds of mud or clay and fancies spider meat for her chil- 

 dren (Pelopeus, m); a brightly colored little wasp which Mr. Peckham 

 found storing white-winged moths in its tunnels in an old rotting log 

 (Crabro, o) ; a burrowing wasp that begins life on a diet of beetle flesh 

 (Cerceris, p); a little wasp probably protected by its resemblance to a 

 fly, for it catches flies to place beside its egg and furnish ready meat 



