36 THE HOME OF THE BEES. 



(Halictus), quite closely allied in all respects, though a little 

 lower in the scale. 



The Halictus parallelus excavates cells almost exactly like 

 those of Audrena ; but since the bee is smaller, the holes are 

 smaller, though as deep. Mr. Emerton found one nest in a 

 path a foot in depth. Another nest, discovered September 9th, 

 was about six inches deep. The cells are in form like those of 

 Andrena, and like them, are glazed within. The egg is rather 

 slenderer and much curved; in form it is long, cylindrical, 

 obtuse at one end, and much smaller at the other. The larva 

 (Fig. 31) is longer and slenderer, being quite diiferent from the 

 rather broad and flattened larva of Andrena. The body is 

 rather thick behind, but in front tapers slowly towards the 

 head, which is of moderate size. Its body is somewhat tuber- 

 culated, the tubercle aiding the grub in moving about its cell. 

 Its length is nearly one-half (.40) of an inch. On the pupa are 

 four quite distinct conical tubercles forming a transverse line 

 just in front of the ocelli ; and there are also two larger, longer 

 tubercles, on the outer side of each of which, an ocellus is 

 situated. Figure 30 represents the pupa seen from beneath. 



Search was made on July IGth, where the ground was hard as 

 stone for six inches in depth, below which the soil was soft and 

 fine, and over twenty cells were dug out. &quot;The upper cells 

 contained nearly mature pupa?, and the lower ones, larvae of 

 various sizes, the smallest being hardly distinguishable by the 

 naked eye. Each of these small larva? was in a cell by itself, 

 and situated upon a lump of pollen, which was the size and 

 shape of a pea, and was found to lessen in size as the larva 

 grew larger. These young were probably the offspring of 

 several females, as four mature bees were found in the hole.&quot; 

 The larva of an English species hatches in ten days after the 

 eggs are laid. 



Another brood of bees appeared the middle of September, as 

 on the ninth of that month (18G4) Mr. Emerton found several 

 holes of the same species of bee, made in a hard gravel road 

 near the turnpike. When opened, they were found to contain 

 several bees with their young. September 2d, of this year, 

 the same kind of bee was found in holes, and just ready to leave 

 the cell. It is probable that these bees winter over. 



We have incidentally noticed the presence in the nests of 

 Andrena and Halictus of a stranger bee, clad in gay, fantastic 



