340 



PSYCHE, 



[October iSoz. 



Food plant. Black oak (Quercus 

 kelloggii Newberry) . 



Nadata oregonensis is not well dis- 

 tinguished from N. gib bos a Sm. & 

 Abb., especially in the larval state. It 

 seems to be related to gibbosa much as 

 Papillo rutulus is related to P. turnus 

 among the butterflies. Its habitat is 

 very probably coextensive with that of 

 its food plant, which is said to be "on 

 the coast ranges and on the western 



slope of the Sierra Nevada throughout 

 California and as far north as the mid- 

 dle of Oregon ; on mountain sides and 

 summits only, or in the elevated valleys, 

 not on the plains or near the sea."* Mr. 

 Edwards recorded it from Siskiyou and 

 Butte Counties and I found it in Mari- 

 posa County, and at Portland, Oregon 

 but I am not aware that any record of 

 its capture in the coast ranges has yet 

 been made.f 



NOTES ON THE NESTING HABITS OF CERTAIN BEES. 



BY A. S. PACKARD, PROVIDENCE, R. I. 



These notes were made in 1S65 to 1867, 

 and were used in writing the chapters in 

 "Our Common Insects" entitled "The Home 

 of the Bees," and were also in part utilized in 

 my Guide to the Study of Insects, but the 

 matter here offered for publication has been 

 unpublished and is perhaps worthy of 

 record. 



Osmia simillima Smith. — A number of 

 cells of this species were found in a deserted 

 oak-gall of Diplolefiis confluentus, individ- 

 uals of both sexes appearing in the house 

 Dec. 14, 1865, while one appeared during the 

 second week of the following April, and lived 

 a week in the breeding box. The earthen 

 cells, eleven in number, were arranged irreg- 

 ularly so as to fit the concave vault of the 

 gall, which was about two inches in diameter. 

 The cells are rudely cylindrical, a third 

 longer than broad, and quite different in ap- 

 pearance from the cells of Odynerus, which 

 are also built in these empty galls. The 

 cells within are shining mahogany-colored, 

 but externally are rough with the debris of 

 the interior of the deserted gall. They differ 

 from the cells of Odynerus in being parch- 

 ment-like, while those of the latter are made 



of mud thinly lined within with white silk, 

 and those of Osmia are a fourth larger. 

 The insect cuts a longitudinal ovate lid, 

 nearly as large as one side of the cell itself, 

 which is attached to the posterior end by a 

 hinge. Odynerus makes its exit by a hole at 

 the end of its cell. 



Osmia pacifica Say. — Individuals of both 

 sexes were found in the perfect state in 

 cocoons and earthen cells beneath stones 

 April 15. The cell is half an inch in length; 

 breadth .28 inch. It is oval cylindrical, a 

 little contracted at the upper end just before 

 the lid, forming an urn-shaped oblique lid, 

 which is flattened and a little depressed at 

 the middle. The cell is thin and composed 

 of black fine earth, and not lined with silk 

 within; the outer surface is not very rough. 



Megachile centuncularis. — The cells 

 or cocoons of what is probably this species 

 are cylindrical, very obtuse at each end, the 

 walls of tough, parchment-like consistency, 



* E. L. Greene, Illus. of West Amer. oaks, page 2, 

 1SS9. 



| I have recently seen examples of the species in the 

 collection of Prof. Rivers from Napa Co., Cal. and it 

 has been taken at Seattle, Wash., by Johnson. 



