Independent of the differences in the mouth, Colletes may 

 be instantly known from the two genera whicli it most resem- 

 bles externally, Andrena and Halidus, by the equal propor- 

 tions of the 2nd and 3rd siibmarginal cells, one of which is 

 small in the former, and by those cells receiving recurrent 

 nerves, which is not the case in the latter. 



We have 3 or 4 species of Colletes in Britain; viz. 1. suc- 

 cinda Linn. 2. fodiens Kirby. 3. Daviesana Kirby's MSS. 

 and a species in my cabinet, which appears to be very different 

 from the foregoing. 



The males of C. fodiens I took upon the elevated cliffs at 

 Christchurch, Hampshire, that are covered with heath, about 

 the middle of August ; and a few days after I met with the fe- 

 males in abundance flying about the western side of a bank 

 upon Parley Heath in the same county, but saw no males. 

 Although this species has been figured in Monographia Apum 

 Anglice^ the beautiful state of the females that I took has in- 

 duced me to give one as an example of the genus. I can 

 scarcely think that the insects figured by Panzer, fasc. 105. 

 w. 21 & 22, can be the Melittafodie7is of Kirby; they are too 

 black, the scutella are pale, and the female wants the light spots 

 upon the basal segment of the abdomen. 



We are indebted to Reaumur for a knowledge of the eco- 

 nomy of these bees, and it is a little singular that no one ap- 

 pears since his time to have been able to discover their nests, 

 which they form amongst the earth that fills up the spaces of 

 some stone walls ; they are cylindrical, and composed of many 

 cells of different lengths, placed in a horizontal line, each cell 

 being formed like a thimble and fitted to the next : sometimes, 

 however, when a stone obstructs their course, the line becomes 

 irregular. The cells have alternate transverse bands of two 

 or more colours; the shorter ones at their junction are white, 

 the longer ones enveloping the body are reddish brown. 

 These cells are constructed of many layers lying one over the 

 other ; and although their contexture is close, they are very 

 transparent, in conse(|uence of their extreme thinness, — suffi- 

 ciently so to discover the colour of the substances contained 

 in them, which causes the variegated line above described. 



The plant figured is Campanula glomcrata (Clustered Bell- 

 flower). 



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