192 INSECT CALENDAR. 



Figure 226, enlarged about three times, represents a singular 

 larva found by Mr. J. H. Emerton under a stone early in spring. 

 Dr. LeConte, to whom we sent a figure, supposes that it may 

 possibly be a larva of Harpalus, or Pangus caliginosus. It is 

 evidently a young Carabid. The under side is represented. 



The Insects of May. 



During this month there is great activity among the insects. 

 As the flowers bloom and the leaves appear, multitudes wake 

 from their long winter sleep, and during this month pass through 

 the remainder of their transformations, and prepare for the sum- 

 mer campaign. Most insects hibernate in the chrysalis or pupa 

 state, while many winter in the caterpillar or larva state, such 

 as the larva? of several Noctuidae and the "yellow-bear," and 

 other caterpillars of Arctia and its allies. Other insects hiber- 

 nate in the adult or imago form, either as beetles, butterflies or 

 certain species of bees. 



It is well known that the Queen Humble bee winters under 

 the moss, or in her old nest. During the present month her 

 rovings seem to have a more definite object, and she seeks some 

 deserted mouse's nest, or hollow in a tree or stump, and there 

 stows away her pellets of pollen, containing two or three eggs 

 apiece, which, late in the summer, are to form the nucleus of a 

 well-appointed colony. The Carpenter bees (Ceratina and Xylo- 

 copa, the latter of which is found in abundance south of New 

 England) are busy in refitting and tunnelling the hollows of the 

 grape; while the Ceratina hollows out the stem of the elder, 

 or blackberry. This little upholsterer bee carpets her honey- 

 tight apartment, storing it with food for her young, and later in 

 the season, in June, several of these cartridge-like cells, whose 

 silken walls resemble the finest and most delicate parchment, 

 may be found in the hollow stems of these plants. The Mason 

 bee (Osmia) places her nest in a more exposed site, building 

 her earthen cells of pellets of moistened mud, either situated 

 under a stone, or in some more sheltered place ; for instance, in 

 a deserted oak-gall, ranging half a dozen of them side by side 

 along the vault of this strange domicile. Meanwhile their more 

 lowly relatives, the Andrena and Halictus bees, are engaged in 

 tunnelling the side of some sunny bank or path, running long 

 galleries underground, sometimes for a foot or more, at the 

 farthest end of which are to be found, in summer, little earthen 



