THE ANTHOFIIORA. 25 I 



trious'./ and with no small difficulty. This bit of carpentry may 

 take several weeks, as the hole sometimes reaches to a depth of 

 a foot or more. But if the bee should happen to find an old 

 gallery in a tree, or any tubular holes, she takes possession of 

 them, establishes cells within, and makes their party-walls with 

 sawdust, which she agglutinates with her saliva. The diameter of 

 the holes is often half an inch, and after the sawdust is formed 

 into a paste it is arranged so as to make the floor of the suc- 

 ceeding cell, in which an &gg is deposited with the usual supply 

 of pollen paste ; this is covered with a layer of the sawdust, and 

 thus the floor of another cell is made ; and about a dozen are thus 

 constructed one above the other. 



There are some very common bees, which abound in the hot 

 districts of Europe and Africa, which resemble hive bees, but are 

 larger and more hairy. They are solitary bees, and belong to the 

 genus AntJiophora. One of them is a black insect, clothed with 

 grey hairs, and having the last segments of the abdomen russet 

 coloured. It digs holes between the stones of old walls, and 

 collects all the sand dug out, agglutinates it with viscid saliva, 

 and fixes it in front of the hole, arranging it in the form of small 

 cylinders. This little vestibule, like that of an insect already 

 described, is destroyed after the nest has been provisioned, and its 

 materials are used to wall up the entrance. Other AnthopJiora, 

 which make nests in rubbish, do not collect the substances which 

 they have dug out, for they have plenty of materials at hand. 



AntJiopJiora per'sonata has fawn-coloured legs, and makes a 

 nest in loose earth, and builds five or six cells which open into 

 a common gallery. When the cells are opened, large larvre, or 

 nymphs, as the case may be, are found. The larva of this 

 Anthophora remains upon its side, and is a stout and large insect, 

 especially as regards its abdomen, and the creature seems to be 

 content always to remain in this curious position, with the body 

 rather bent in front. In the engraving several of these solitary 

 bees are drawn in flight, and a section of the cells and gallery is 

 drawn on the right hand. Two of the cells contain nymphs, and 

 two others, larvae. 



The bees which act as parasites upon others have been 

 collected in one group called the Noinadince. Some of these 



