February 1SQ4 



PSYCHE. 



25 



tlie bee resultiriij from tlie S'i'g hist deposited 

 is the first to escape, wlien tliere must of 

 necessity be weeks of dift'erence in their 

 time of deposition, is something I cannot 

 satisfactorily account for. I am led to inter, 

 bv the fact of the external cells always con- 

 taining males and the lower ones only 

 females, that the explanation in part lies 

 therein. 



Mr. Davidson found this species was 

 preyed upon by two parasites — a 

 Dipteron, Agyramoeba sitnse?t Fabr. 

 and a Chalcid, A/onodontomenis monti- 

 vagus Aslim., the latter depositing from 

 10 to 20 eggs in each cell. 



The genus Anthophora comprise 

 rather large solitary bees, clothed with 

 a thick covering of hairs, especially in 

 the thorax and hind legs. Almost 

 nothing is known of the nesting habits 

 of our species. All those observed by 

 European authors provision their cells 

 with a supply of pollen and honey, 

 upon which an egg is laid and then the 

 cell is closed up. 



Mr. Benj. D. Walsh, in Am. ent., 

 vol. I (1S6S), p. 9, has figured and 

 described the habits of Anthophora 

 abr?ipta Say ( = A. sponsa Sm.) 

 "which had excavated its burrow in 

 the mortar between the bricks compos- 

 ing a vast system of undergroimd flues 

 erected for raising early vegetal)les, 

 building an entrance to its burrow of 

 tempered clay two inches long and 

 three quarters of an inch in diameter." 

 No mention is made of the eggs, dura- 

 tion of larval stage, etc. 



The habits of Entechnia (Antho- 

 phora) tanrea was briefly and incoin- 

 pletelv described by Say at the time of 



its specific description. Bost. joinn. nat. 

 hist., -^ol. I ( 1S37), p. 411. He says : — 



The manners and habits of this species may 

 be likened to those of A. paiietina Latr. It 

 digs a cylindrical hole in compact clay or ad- 

 hesive earth on the side of a bank, or in earth 

 retained amongst the roots of an upturned 

 tree. The hole is two or three inches in 

 depth ; the sides and bottom of a dark brown 

 color, quite sinooth and somewhat polished, 

 containing a quantity of white pollen, con- 

 siderably larger than the artificer itself. The 

 entrance consists of a cylinder extending 

 downwards from the mouth of the hole more 

 than an inch in length and consisting of small 

 pellets of earth compacted together, very 

 rough on the exterior and smooth within. 



The genus Mclissodes has apparently 

 the same habits as Anthophora, as I once 

 detected Mclissodes bimacitlata entering 

 its burrow, formed in an open field, the 

 entrance to which was directly under a 

 small, flat stone. Unlike Anthophora, 

 however, it had neglected to build the 

 tubular entrance so characteristic of this 

 as well as other solitary bees. On turn- 

 ing the stone over I found the burrow 

 after extending about an inch and a half 

 directly under it curved downward and 

 became perpendicular, the cell formed 

 of clay being at the bottom at the 

 depth of about eight inches. 



The genns Ceratina is represented 

 in our fauna by four species, the habits 

 of only one of which is known, /. e , 

 Ceratina dttpla Say. This species hol- 

 lows out the stems of almost any pithy 

 plant in which to nidificate, the elder, 

 blackberry, raspberry, and syringa be- 

 ing the most favorite plants. I have 

 most frequently found its nests in the 



