196 INSECT LIFE 



XIV 



silent on this point, whose importance I fully realise 

 now that I want to arrange my materials in order 

 to write these lines. I find mention of the Ammo- 

 phila of the sands coming out of the egg on June 5, 

 and A. argentata on the 20th ; but I have nothing 

 in my archives regarding the hatching of A. hirsuta. 

 It is a detail left unnoticed through forgetfulness. 

 The dates for the two other species accord with the 

 general law, the perfect insect appearing at the hot 

 time of year. By analogy I fix the same date for 

 the coming forth of A. hirsuta from the cocoon. 



Whence, then, come those which one sees at 

 work on their burrows at the end of March and 

 April ? We must conclude that they were hatched 

 in the previous year and emerged from their cells at 

 the usual time in June and July, lived through the 

 winter, and began to build as soon as spring came. 

 In a word, they are insects that hibernate. Ex- 

 perience fully confirms this conclusion. 



Do but search patiently in a vertical bank of 

 earth or sand well exposed to the sun, especially 

 where generations of the various honey -gathering 

 Hymenoptera have followed one another year after 

 year, riddling the ground with a labyrinth of passages 

 till it looks like a huge sponge, you are nearly sure 

 to see in the heart of winter A. hirsuta either alone 

 or in little parties of three or four, crouched in some 

 warm retreat, waiting inactive till summer shall come. 

 This cheering little meeting, amid the gloom and cold 

 of winter, with the graceful insect which at the first 

 notes of the bunting and the cricket enlivens 

 the grassy paths, is one that I have been able to 

 enjoy at will. If the weather be calm and the sun 



