THE INDUSTRIES OF WILD BEES 



275 



holes within a few square feet. The bees seem now and 



then to enter the wrong holes, for they creep out again in 



a minute or less with the pollen still dusting their bodies. 



I do not however believe that they really make a mistake. 



The bee on entering finds an intruder in her burrow, a 



parasitic bee of which more will shortly be said, and being 



of peaceful disposition, she waits till the way is clear. 



There is no reason to suppose that several 



bees ever share the same burrow by mutual 



consent. When the cells are stored with 



honey and eggs, the bee shovels part of 



the earth back into the hole, makes up the 



mouth, and then probably sets about a 

 fresh hole, as we may infer from the small 

 numbers of eggs in one gallery, and also 

 from the fact that the excavations are 

 carried on for many weeks, while a single 

 gallery can be excavated, stored, and closed 

 in a few days. 



The advantages of the burrow are obvious 

 enough. The Andraena gets a tolerably dry 

 place in which to store her honey and eggs, 

 aud some degree of protection from ants 

 and other predatory insects, as well as from 

 the innumerable insect-parasites, which are 

 ever ready to appropriate either food or leg of > ndraena . 

 larvae for the maintenance of their own 

 young. The protection against parasites is, however, 

 far from complete. When the mother-bee visits a 

 flower, the hairs on her body are often grasped by the 

 minute larvae of Stylops, which lurk there for this very 

 purpose. She unconsciously brings home an enemy, 

 which will enter the body of one of her brood, and develop 

 there, causing pain and distortion, though not necessarily 

 death. Also there are cuckoo-bees, not unlike the burrow- 

 ing bees in general build, which cannot dig, or collect 

 pollen, or lay up stores of food. They find out the burrows, 



FIG. 53. Hind 

 * of An< 

 magnified. 



