June, 1914. 



203 



American Hee Journal 



KiG. 4.— Common bees of the northern States, i. Halictus craterus; ./.female: A. male. 2. H. lerouxii: ,7. female- /• male. 

 1. Coelioxys rufitarsis. female. 4. Osmia megacephala. female. 5. Halictus hortensis. female. 6 H. vierecki. female. 

 7. Osmia Dumila. female. 8. Andrena vicina; ,r. female; /•, male. 9. A. cratsgi; ,/. female; 1*. female. 10. Prosopis modesta; 

 a. female; /'. male. 



ing it with food. The largest of all 

 bees are the carpenter bees (Fig. 3), so- 

 called because they are able with their 

 powerful jaws to excavate tunnels in 

 solid wood a foot in length. The cells 

 are separated by partitions of small 

 chips cemented together in a spiral ; 

 while the masses of bee-bread, or balls 

 of pollen mixed with nectar on which 

 the eggs are laid are about the size of 

 a bean. In the eastern States Xylocopa 

 virginica, a black bee about the size of 

 X. caflfra (Fig. 3, 1), is a well known 

 species. 



In Fig. 3 are shown three kinds of 

 leaf-cutting bees. They carry pollen 

 chiefly on a stiff brush of hairs on the 

 underside of the abdomen, which in 

 different species is black, yellow, or 

 glistening white. On level-topped flow- 

 ers, like the sunflower, they are able to 

 suck nectar and brush up pollen at the 

 same time. They are also especially 

 well adapted to pollinate the flowers of 

 the pea or legume family (Leguminos.c). 



The species of Megachile are called 

 leaf-cutting bees because they line 



their burrows with oblong or round 

 pieces of leaves or flower petals, which 

 they cut out with their mandibles. 

 Usually they do little harm to the foli- 

 age of plants, but occasionally the in- 

 jury is more serious. A settler at 

 Springfield, Idaho, relates the follow- 

 ing experience : 



" Among the first trees set out about 

 our house were two ash trees. As 

 soon as the foliage began to appear the 

 trees were attacked by leaf-cutter bees, 

 which completely defoliated one and 

 nearly the other. First, we noticed 

 circular holes in many of the leaves, 

 but it was not long, until going to the 

 trees, one noticed the noise made by 

 the bees at work, almost like a swarm 

 of bees intent on gathering honey. 

 Sometimes we could see a bee with a 

 section of leaf so large it could hardly 

 fly, but working diligently, carrying its 

 burden to a sandy spot just outside the 

 yard, where the bees had their tunnels." 



The mason bees belong to the genus 

 Osmia (See Fig. 4, 4 and 7), and are 

 closely allied to the leaf-cutters. They 



Fig. 5.— Two closed bumblebee flowers W. Snapdragon Antirrhinum majus). B Butter 

 and eggs Linaria vulgaris: In both species the corolla is twolinped Notice how 

 the closed corolla protects both the nectar and the pollen from wet and useless in- 

 sects. Bumblebees alone can push down the lower lip and enter the corolla. 



are robust, blue-green or bottle-green 

 insects, with the pollen brush on the 

 underside of the abdomen. They are 

 called mason bees because many of 

 them construct their cells of mud or 

 clay. A cell sent to me from Massa- 

 chusetts, was a round ball about half 

 an inch in diameter, rudely fashioned 

 of mud on the outside, but beautifully 

 polished and glazed within. 



The short-tongued bees are very 

 numerous, and may be taken by the 

 dozen on flowers which have the nectar 

 and pollen unprotected, as the willows, 

 plums, wild cherries, thornbushes, 

 blackberries and sumacs. In Fig. 4 

 are shown common species of the 

 great genera Andrena and Halictus. 

 As they build their nests in the soil of 

 fields and pastures they are often called 

 ground bees. Each female digs her 

 own burrow, and, as many thousand 

 sometimes tunnel in the same sandy 

 bank, the ground appears as though 

 filled with shot holes. It is a village or 

 " city of homes." The tunnel is straight 

 with several short branches, in each of 

 which a ball of bee-bread about the 

 size of a small pea is placed, ar: egg is 

 laid upon it, the cell is sealed and the 

 offspring are then left to take care of 

 themselves. When it is rainy the fe- 

 males remain at home, and may be 

 seen looking out of the burrows watch- 

 ing for fair weather. A part of the 

 species of Andiena fly only in the 

 spring, and others only in late summer 

 or autumn. Many of them are found 

 on only one kind of flower, some very 

 common species like the willows or 

 goldenrods, which furnish all the pol- 

 len and nectar they require. 



The simplest and most primitive bees 

 belong to the genus Prosopis (Fig. 4; 

 10, a and />). 'ihey are little coal-black 

 insects with an aromatic odor, resemb- 

 ling ants in general appearance. They 

 are nearly smooth, with broad, flat, 

 wasp-like tongues, which suggests that 



