MINERS 23 



that amount of food necessary for the grub until it 

 attains to that stage of development when it is fit 

 to enter upon the fasting pupal period in which 

 will be formed the wings and other organs of the 

 perfect bee. 



The species of Andrena are much like small 

 Honey Bees, but they are solitary in their habits, 

 and have short tongues. They form a large genus 

 — about fifty species are found in the British Islands 

 — but their habits are very similar. They are very 

 noticeable in spring, for it is then that they set 

 about their mining operations ; when they are 

 busy collecting pollen from the early flowers they 

 are more likely to be set down as Honey Bees and 

 therefore too ordinary to be particularly noticed. 

 The mines in the different species vary from five 

 to ten inches deep. The little black bees of the 

 small genus Panurgus agree generally in their habits 

 with Andrena. 



The Hairy-legged Miner (Dasypoda hirtipes), a 

 near relation of the Andrenas, has had its industrial 

 operations chronicled at length by Hermann Muller, 

 who says the excavating work is performed by the 

 bee's jaws. It sinks a perpendicular shaft like 

 Andrena, only much longer — in this case extending 

 to a length of a foot, or even two feet. Its hairy 

 body and limbs are useful adjuncts, for after loosen- 

 ing the soil with its jaws it carries the particles out 

 of the burrow by walking backwards and so sweeping 

 them out at the entrance. Before going back for 

 another spell of digging it distributes the expelled 



