276 THE ANTHOPHILA. 



same plan, at first sight appear more curious than 

 those of the Andrena. Like the latter they burrow 

 to a depth of several inches in sand-banks or old walls 

 (Colletes), or clear out the pith from the stems of 

 woody plants, especially brambles (Prosopis) . At the 

 bottom of the tubular burrow formed in either of 

 these situations, the parent Bee forms a little cell like 

 a thimble, consisting of a glutinous substance which 

 she has the power of secreting, and which, when 

 hardened, forms a transparent membrane as delicate as 

 gold-beater's skin. When this lining is completed, 

 the Bee stores the cell with a mixture of pollen and 

 honey, lays an egg in it, and finally cuts it off from 

 the rest of the burrow by a partition of the same 

 substance, which, says Mr. Smith, " is stretched flat 

 across, like the parchment on a drum-head." This 

 whole process is then repeated until six or eight 

 similar cells are formed and stored, when the burrow 

 is closed, and the industrious mother proceeds with 

 her labours in another place. 



Of the solitary Bees with long tongues, some, like 

 the Andrerue, excavate a simple burrow in the earth, 

 at the end of which they either form a single chamber 

 for the reception of an egg and a supply of pollen 

 and honey, or terminating their original burrow with 

 several branches, convert it into the common passage 

 to a small number of cells. This is the case with a 

 species which may be found commonly about hedge- 

 banks in the spring, the Anthophora acervorum, of 

 which the female is black and thickly clothed with 

 black hairs, except on the hinder tibiae and the basal 

 joint of the tarsi, which are covered with golden- 

 orange pubescence ; whilst the pubescence of the male 

 is tawny, except on the hinder part of the abdomen. 



