140 NOTES BY THE WAY. 



THE SOLITARY BEE. 



IF you " leave no stone unturned " in your walks 

 through the fields, you may perchance discover the 

 abode of one of our solitary bees. Indeed, I have 

 often thought what a chapter of natural history might 

 be written on " Life under a Stone," so many of our 

 smaller creatures take refuge there, ants, crickets, 

 spiders, wasps, bumble-bees, the solitary bee, mice, 

 toads, snakes, newts, etc. What do these things do 

 in a country where there are no stones ? A stone 

 makes a good roof, a good shield ; it is water-proof 

 and fire-proof, and, until the season becomes too rig- 

 orous, frost-proof, too. The field-mouse wants no 

 better place to nest than beneath a large, flat stone, 

 and the bumble-bee is entirely satisfied if she can get 

 possession of his old or abandoned quarters. I have 

 even heard of a swarm of hive bees going under a 

 stone that was elevated a little from the ground. 

 After that, I did not marvel at Samson's bees going 

 into the carcass or skeleton of the lion. 



In the woods one day (it was in November) I 

 turned over a stone that had a very strange-looking 

 creature under it, a species of salamander I had 

 never before seen, the S. Fasciata. It was five or 

 six inches long, and was black and white in alternate 

 bands. It looked like a creature of the night, 

 darkness dappled with moonlight, and so it proved. 

 I wrapped it up in some leaves and took it home in 



