296 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



Apis Barbutella, Kirhy, Mon. Ap. Angl. \\. 343. 



Psitliyrus qnadricolor, St. Farg. Hym. ii. 428, male. 



P. Barbnlellns, Schenck; Hijm. Nassau, p. 163. 

 A very abundant species in all parts of the country : it has 

 been found in the nests of Bombus Pratorura and of B. Der- 

 hamellus. 



Fam. ANDRENiDiE, Ijeacli. 



Section I. Obtusilingoes, Westw. 



Genus Colletes, Lair. 



The economy of this genus of bees has been repeatedly 

 detailed. Mr. Kirby has quoted from Reatnnur an interesting 

 fact of their nests having been found in the interstices of an 

 old wall, a situation in which I myself have never found 

 them; he also quotes from Grew's 'Rarities' an account of 

 their having formed burrows in the pith of an old elder- 

 branch. These can only be regarded as instances of devia- 

 tion from their usual habit. I have repeatedly found the 

 n'ests of three of the species, C. marginata being the only 

 one I never traced to its burrows. They are gregarious in 

 their habits, and occasionally form extensive colonies, usually, 

 as 1 have observed, in banks having a south or south-western 

 aspect. It is a mistake on the part of the author of the 

 recent work on the ' British Bees' to state that " the aspect 

 selected by the fei^ales for their burrows varies according to 

 the species :" the three species whose burrows 1 have frequently 

 examined, and from the cocoons obtained from which I have 

 bred the insects, all select warm sunny aspects, never a 

 northern one. Neither do I agree with the same author in 

 his statement that they have " two broods in the year :" the 

 brood which is observed burrowing lays up a store of food 

 for one which is not to appear until the following spring, 

 having passed the winter in the larva state : pupae, or perfect 

 bees, are never found until the spring has far advanced, or in 

 early summer. 



C. fodiens and C. marginata I have taken on the flowers 

 of the ragwort ; C. succiucta I never saw frequenting any 

 flower except the common heath (Calluna vulgaris), and C. 

 Daviesaua frequents the wild tansy (Tanacetum vulgare). The 

 only parasites that I have reared from this genus of bees are 



