THE SOLITARY BEES 13 



solitary bees the habits of two genera must be 

 specially noticed, as they differ in an essential 

 point from those of the others. These are known 

 to entomologists under the names of Halictus 

 and Sphecodes. 



In most species of these the males and females 

 of the new brood are not hatched out till after 

 midsummer, and no work is done for the pro- 

 visioning of new burrows that autumn ; but 

 the female, after having undertaken the duties 

 of maternity, hibernates, i.e. goes back into a 

 burrow and lives there till the next spring, the 

 males dying off before the winter. In the spring 

 the ? wakes up and does the necessary work for 

 the future brood just as any ordinary spring 

 bee would but there are no attendant males 

 the duties of that sex having been performed in 

 the autumn. The larvae contained in these 

 burrows hatch out after midsummer and there- 

 fore never spend a winter in the ground. In 

 this respect they resemble the social bees and 

 wasps, about which more hereafter ; in the mean- 

 while a few words must be said about the cuckoos 

 or inquilines, which are perhaps the most inter- 

 esting creatures of all. 



