56 OSMIA AND ITS HABITS 



call it by a Eussian name, the difficulty of 

 coming to a mutual understanding is very great. 

 This is only an aside to justify the use of classical 

 names. I quite feel that for popular use in this 

 country a good series of English names might 

 be useful, but we have not got one, and it would 

 require a great deal of care and thought to frame 

 a nomenclature which would really be useable 

 by the persons who require it. 



I have made these remarks here because 

 Osmia is a genus whose members vary very 

 much in their habits, and some species of which, 

 like sensible beings, adapt their habits to their 

 surroundings, so that no name such as carpenter 

 bee, etc., would apply to all the species, or, as a 

 rule, even to one. Osmia rufa especially adopts 

 several methods of nesting. This little bee is 

 clothed more or less all over with yellowish 

 hairs ; it is compact in shape like all the other 

 species of Osmia, and like them collects its pollen 

 on the underside of the body. It may sometimes 

 be seen flying up and down the walls of a house 

 looking for a crevice to build in, but it is not the 

 least particular as to where to form its cells. In 

 one memorable case the female selected a flute 



