SOLITARY BEES THEIR HABITS AND WORK. 189 



above and sand below. Like all bees, they are very 

 fond of salt-water, and may be seen to settle on the sand 

 and drink their briny draught with great zest. 



Some of these bees are fond of sand-banks, and one, 

 the Kentish Bee (Andrena picipes), is remarkable for the 

 fact that it is almost wholly confined to the county 

 whence it derives its name. The face of any sand quarry 

 in any part of Kent is tolerably sure to contain the 

 tunnels of this bee. It burrows almost horizontally, and 

 does not penetrate to any great depth. The tunnels are 

 generally set closely together, so that I have procured in 

 a few minutes several dozen of the silken cells spun by 

 the larvae just before their change. The cell at the end 

 of the tunnel is stored with the white pollen of the 

 thistle, and the mother bee has a most curious aspect as 

 she flies to her burrow so laden with pollen that she 

 looks as if she had been rolled in a flour-barrel. When 

 she comes out again she would hardly be recognised 

 as the same insect, the colour being nearly black, 

 with the exception of the second joint, or tibia, of 

 the hind leg, which is silvery white below and brown 

 above. 



There is one enormous genus of Solitary Bees called 

 Osmia. These insects make their nest in all kinds of 

 unexpected places. They will utilise nail-holes in 

 garden walls; and I have seen an old stone wall that 

 had once belonged to a garden, literally swarming with 

 these bees. A brick wall is scarcely so much favoured 

 by them, as the bricks are too regularly laid to allow of 



