34 Mr. F. Smith’s Descriptions of 
I received this species from Mr. Thwaites ; it is very distinct 
from any of the foregoing, and is a smaller species. 
Five years ago I captured a single specimen of Osmia leucome- 
lana, which I saw enter an excavated bramble stick. From the 
cocoons contained in it, I confidently expected to breed the Osmaa, 
but to my great surprise, in the month of June in the following 
season, a new species of Epipone was developed. I visited the 
locality, in which I found the bee, the four following summers, and 
although I occasionally found a specimen,—in one instance a male 
and female in the same stick,—still I could not discover one con- 
taining the nest of the bee. This season, on the 19th of July, I 
again visited Cove Common, Hants, and after a careful search 
I succeeded in finding some excavated sticks. My plan is, if 
possible, to cut the sticks in the evening, first carefully stopping 
up the entrance, as the probability is that the female bees will 
then be in them; by this means I took three females and five of 
Epipone levipes. 
The burrow formed by the Osmia is different to that of E’pipone, 
which clears out all the pith previous to forming her cells. The 
Osmia excavates to the depth of about four inches, her course 
through the pith being somewhat serpentine; having arrived at 
the necessary depth, she commences alternately to widen and 
contract her burrow equally, each alternation occupying three- 
eighths of an inch; this she repeats five times—(see PI. III. fig. 4); 
these spaces form the receptacles of the pollen and honey ; having 
stored up a sufficient quantity in the furthest cell, she next depo- 
sits an egg against the mass, one end of which is pushed into it, 
and by that means retains its position; she then forms a division 
between the stored and next empty cell, this division is about the 
thickness of a common address card, and is composed of small 
pieces of leaf, mixed with some gummy substance, and so com- 
pactly is it finished, that [ fancied it was circular pieces of leaf 
stuck together, until | immersed one in hot water, when the gum 
or wax dissolved. In one of the sticks in which I found a female 
Osmia, the third cell was just completed, or stored, and an egg 
deposited. The egg is about one line long, tapering a little at 
each end, and is in fact about the size and form of a small carra- 
way seed, only that the surface is so exceedingly smooth, that, 
under a high magnifying power, I could not detect the slightest 
puncture or reticulation. Supposing the egg in question to have 
been deposited on the day that I discovered the nest, the larvee 
appeared on the tenth, 
