386 THE NATURAL HISTORY 



upper one, and that, as a natural consequence, the 

 larvae cannot all attain their development simul- 

 taneously. The first hatched, therefore, which is 

 ready to emerge before the others have ceased feeding, 

 gnaws a hole through the bottom of its cell, and 

 makes its exit through the side of the post, the others 

 all following the same route in succession. Another 

 species of Megachile, at least we assume it is distinct 

 from centuncularis, constructs its cells in cavities of 

 old walls, we have repeatedly seen individuals of this 

 species, with their leafy burden, enter the open spaces 

 between the bricks where the mortar had apparently 

 crumbled away, in the summer of 1870 there were 

 three of these nests in the course of construction, at 

 the same time, in the walls of the stables at Uppark. 



Chelostoma florisomnis is a slender little bee, remark- 

 able for its habit of coiling itself up and taking its 

 siesta within the corolla of a flower, we have found 

 scores of these drowsy creatures in the common blue 

 bell (Campanula rotundifolid) in the park. We have 

 also many times seen in the same localities, towards 

 the close of an autumn day, quite a little family of 

 another similar bee (a species of Heriades ?} suspended 

 together by their mandibles from the inflorescence of 

 different grasses. The nests of both these genera are 

 found in old woodwork, and the divisions between the 

 cells are composed of fine raspings of the wood mixed 

 with a viscid fluid secreted by the insects. 



Eucera longicornis, which burrows in the ground, 

 and AntJwphora retusa, another burrowing species, we 

 have several times netted, but we have never had an 

 opportunity of identifying their nests. The first of the 

 two is remarkable for the peculiar structure of its long 

 antennae, a peculiarity which we believe is not found 

 in any other genus, the terminal joints of these organs 

 appear under a lens to be composed of minute 

 hexagons, like the facets in the compound eyes of 

 insects. 



