196 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



bright with pots of scarlet geraniums : numerous species of 

 bees have located themselves in the walls of this ancieiit 

 edifice, and none more numerously than Megachile centuncu- 

 laris. In this house I was temporarily located some years 

 ago, and at that time, to ray astonishment, observed this well- 

 known leaf-cutter selecting the scarlet petals of the gera- 

 niums wherewith to line its tunnels, perforated in the mortar 

 of the old brick house. This year I again visited the spot, 

 and found the geraniums cut for the same purpose, [See 

 p]ntom. iii. 118, line 18.] Mr. Shuckard says this bee 

 '* makes use of the cuttings of rose-leaves, not tlie petals :'''' 

 experience proves that none of the species confine them- 

 selves to the leaves of one plant ; if rose-leaves grow near, 

 those are most frequently used ; but all the species vary 

 their economy according to circumstances in this respect, 



Prosopis dilatata is one of the most local of our native 

 bees ; it occurs occasionally at Walmer, where I captured a 

 pair ill coitii ; I have also bred it from dock-stems found 

 near Pakefield, in Suffolk : its female is the Melitta annu- 

 laris of Kirby, a fact which I made known six or seven years 

 ago; but the author of the 'British Bees' tells us, quite 

 recently, that the female is not known. I may here also take 

 the opportunity of correcting what my experience leads me 

 to believe to be an error, put forth in the same work, wherein 

 it is suggested that the genus Megachile pass the winter in 

 the pupa state. My own opinion is that no bee could survive 

 the winter in that stage of their transformations : all bees 

 either arrive at a state of maturity previous to the winter 

 months, or they pass through that inclement period in the 

 larval state ; in the latter condition they may be exposed to 

 intense frost without detriment : I have subjected the larvae 

 of Anthophora to a degree of frost that rendered them 

 capable of being snapped asunder ; and yet such were in 

 no way injured thereby, but on returning spring underwent 

 their final changes. 



If a colony of Anthophora be examined late in the autumn, 

 bees in every stage of development will be found; but in 

 early spring, before the bees come forth, only larvae and per- 

 fect bees will be found to be living ; many will be found to 

 have perished in the pupa state, and also in an early stage of 

 their perfect condition. I have obtained many species during 



