42 



PSYCHE. 



[Murcli 1S94. 



I thus easily discovered several burrows 

 and afterwards saw females in the act 

 of digging them. 



All except three or four had the 

 peculiar tubular entrance formed of 

 cemented clay at their mouth, similar 

 to those made by Antho]Dhora and other 

 solitary bees. Burrows that had not 

 the tubular entrance at their mouth, 

 evidently had it originally, but it had 

 become destroyed by persons or cattle 

 walking over the ground where the 

 burrows occurred. 



The clay was very hard and dry, and 

 the burrows extended in it obliquely 

 downward to the depth of two or three 

 inches and then became horizontal, ter- 

 minating after reaching a depth of eight 

 or ten inches. At the bottom the female 

 builds her cell, composed of cemented 

 claj', 15 mm. long by 10 mm. in diam- 

 eter at widest part, the cell being 

 slightly constricted towards the top, 

 where its diameter is only S mm. : 

 interiorly it is perfectly smooth and 

 glistening from some thin secretion that 

 covers its surface, while exteriorly it is 

 rough from the small particles of clay of 

 which it is comjDosed. Some of the 

 cells dug up were only partially fin- 

 ished ; others were completely finished, 

 either empt}' or contained the egg or 

 the larva. 



The ^•g^ was always enclosed in a 

 ball of honey-paste that was perfectlv 

 white and consisted of numerous white 

 granules mixed with honey. Onlv one 

 egg was found in each cell. The egg 

 is much elongated and slightly thicker 

 toward one end, perfectly white, with 

 its surface feebly shagreened. One 



taken from its cell August 15, measured 

 4 mm. long, by 0.8 mm. in diameter, at 

 its thickest part. 



A larva, taken August 16, doubled 

 up in its cell, measured I3 mm. long, 

 while the broadest abdominal segment 

 measured only 5 mm. It tapered very 

 much toward the head, was of a white 

 color, with the derma finely, irregu- 

 larly transversel}' shagreened, the seg- 

 ments being well defined ; the head was 

 small, rounded, measuring transyersel_y 

 1.5 mm.; the eyes were not apparent 

 except by a slight elevation, which was 

 scarcely separable from the cranium ; 

 the mandibles were well defined, black 

 or piceous at the tips, the tips being 

 truncate and roundedly emarginate but 

 not sufficientl}' emarginate to form 

 distinct teeth ; the clypeus was trape- 

 zoidal, the anterior edge with a medial 

 emargination ; while the other parts of 

 the mouth were not developed, appear- 

 ing as three lobes, a lobe beneath each 

 mandible, with the third placed beneath 

 and more or less covering the nther 

 two. 



Although still incomplete, these ob- 

 servations prove this bee is not parasitic 

 and will serve to stimulate further study 

 on tlie habits of our species. 



It ma\- be well to record here that 

 while studying this species, I observed 

 a Mutillid moving cautiously into one 

 of the burrows, which on capturing 

 proved to be Sphaerophthalnia simil- 

 li??ia Smith. It is probably parasitic 

 on this bee. 



The species belonging to the genera 

 Nomada Fabr. and A/e/ecta Latr. are 

 stated to be parasitic on difterent soli- 



