( XXX ) 



" Near Oxford I have only once seen Osmia bicolor covering 

 the shell (Helix arbustorum) that contained its nest, and that 

 was in Bagley Wood, Berks., on June 10, 1905; but, on this 

 occasion, small, short pieces of grass, and not beech-scales, 

 were piled up in much the same way so as to form a mound. 

 This bee I caught and also brought away the shell, which 

 the following spring I sectionised and endeavoured, but without 

 much success, to photograph." 



The double instinct of nidification in an empty snail-shell 

 and then covering up the shell was of great interest, and it 

 was desirable to recall Mr. V. R. Perkins' original discovery, 

 so that its details might appear side by side with the abundant 

 confirmation provided by Dr. R. C. L. Perkins and Mr. Hamm. 



Mr. V. R. Perkins described in Ent. Monthly Mag., vol. 21, 

 1884, p. 38, how on May 28 on the dry slope of a hill near 

 Wotton-under-Eclge he-saw a female Osmia bicolor which was — 

 to continue in his own words — " coming towards me carrying 

 in her jaws a bit of dry bent some four inches long, holding it in 

 the middle, just exactly as an acrobat would carry a balancing 

 pole to steady himself." He then saw many other bees 

 similarly engaged. " They would settle down momentarily 

 on the ground, seize hold of a short bent, and start away with 

 it in the direction of the wood below." The same day Mr. 

 Perkins found the bee making its nidus in the shell of Helix 

 nemoralis, and he was therefore inclined to doubt whether the 

 grass-bent-carrying instinct was connected with nidification. 

 A little later in 1884 the observations were confirmed by the 

 same naturalist, and recorded on pp. 67, 68 of E.M.M. vol. 21 ; 

 but it was not until May 6, 1891, that he was able to solve the 

 mystery (E.M.M., vol. 27, 1891, pp. 193, 194). Here Mr. 

 Perkins described how he made the discovery by noticing a 

 peculiar little pile made up of bents like those carried by the 

 bees. He took it up in his hand and found under it a Helix 

 shell full of the cells of the Osmia. On May 7 he returned to 

 the spot and watched the process of building : — " I was close 

 enough to take it up if I wanted to, but the bee came with 

 her load, perfectly indifferent to my presence, and deposited 

 it in her own peculiar way and to her own satisfaction, and 

 then went away for another; she worked hard, and brought 



