484 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Large carpenter bee 

 Xylocopa virgiiiica Drury 

 Burrows about Y^ an inch long may occasionally be observed in telegraph poles, 

 doorposts and similar places, and large-bodied, dusky winged bees seen going in and out. 

 This common insect is sometimes very persistent in its efforts to tun- 

 nel posts or timbers about houses. It is about the size, and has the 

 general appearance of a bumblebee. The abdomen, however, is jet-black 

 and frequently somewhat bare. The tunnels are excavated in solid wood, 

 sometimes to a distance of a foot and are used as nesting places. A unique 

 example of this insect's work together with the bee is represented at plate 

 39, figure 3. This shows the outside appearance of a ^ inch board, from 

 a weatherworn building, and near the top a small entrance hole 3 g inch in 

 diameter. The board has been split and the inner aspect with the three 

 long nearly parallel y2 inch burrows, split when the board was sawed in two, 

 is represented in the foreground. The slight enlargements seen along the 

 course of the galleries indicate the location of individual cells. These are 

 separated from each other when filled by chips of wood securely cemented 

 together. The nature of the partition is easily seen from below. The 

 cells are provisioned with a paste of pollen or nectar, and when the young 

 insects mature, those in the lower chambers are obliged to await the exit 

 of the bees in the upper cells. 



INHABITANTS OF DECAYING WOOD <)R RESIDENTS UNDER DE.II) tiV. DECAYING BARK 



A considerable number of species occur in such places. They are of 

 comparatively slight economic importance, yet should be characterized 

 because of the liability of their being mistaken for more destructive species, 

 and to aid in this identification the following brief accounts of some of the 

 more common species are given. 



