274 HOUSE, GARDEN, AND FIELD 



other early flowering plants. We cannot see how the 

 burrowing bee combs off and collects the pollen ; that is 

 done in the dark. No lump of pollen, such as is con- 

 spicuous on the hind legs of a hive-bee or a humble-bee, 

 is ever seen upon the Andraena. The pollen, mixed with 

 honey pumped up from the crop, is stored within the 

 burrow. 



It is not difficult to explore the burrow, if plenty of 

 time is allowed. A straw or other flexible stalk is useful 

 as a guide. The narrow gallery bends this way or that 

 to avoid stones, runs level or descends according to cir- 

 cumstances, branches occasionally or frequently, 1 and 

 attains a length of from a foot to a yard, though not 

 descending more than a few inches into the ground. Some- 

 times the bee happens to break into the deserted burrow 

 of an earthworm, and follows it for a while, but the earth- 

 worm generally works too deep for the bee, which seldom 

 gets more than a few inches from the surface. Towards 

 the further end of its gallery the bee excavates one or 

 several cells, which are nothing but short and slightly 

 enlarged side-branches. In these she lays the burdens 

 of pollen and honey brought back from the fields. One 

 cell will contain a rounded pellet as big as a small pea, 

 and upon this a single egg is laid, which quickly hatches 

 and yields a white grub, whose whole store of food is the 

 pellet provided by the mother. Neither the galleries nor 

 the cells have any special lining. Male bees are now and 

 then seen hovering about the entrance to the galleries, 

 but it was long before I learnt to know the males of the 

 species which is so common in my garden. They are 

 smaller than the females and differently coloured, and 

 seem to spend most of their time about the flowers, gather- 

 ing honey or pollen, but storing none. Many Andraenas 

 make their burrows near together, and a sloping bank or 

 garden-walk will sometimes show scores or hundreds of 



1 The species differ in this respect. Andraena fulva, which I have 

 chiefly observed, makes burrows which seldom branch. 



