THE SOLITARY BEES. 277 



where it is black, and this sex is remarkably di- 

 stinguished by having the intermediate legs greatly 

 elongated, with a tuft of hair on the basal joint of the 

 tarsi. The Eucera longicornis, in which the antennae 

 of the male are as long as the body and curiously 

 covered with hexagonal facets, also exhibits the same 

 habits. The Ceratina ca>rulea, a small bluish-green 

 Bee which is only found in particular localities, like 

 the species of Prosopis amongst the short-tongued 

 Bees, clears out the pith from the dead stems of 

 brambles and constructs its neskin the tubular burrow 

 thus formed. Others, such as the Chelostoma flori- 

 somnis, a small Bee which has received its name from 

 the habit of the males of always seeking a lodging 

 for the night amongst the petals of flowers, burrow 

 into dead wood, rotten posts, rails, and palings, or 

 sometimes, with a praiseworthy ingenuity, make use 

 of the deserted galleries of other wood-loving insects, 

 and thus save themselves the labour of forming a 

 burrow for themselves. Nay, some of these Bees 

 frequently construct their Cells in the interior of 

 straw and reeds employed as thatch, these presenting 

 a natural tube, than which nothing could be better 

 adapted for their purpose. 



In the genus Osmia, of which several species are 

 found abundantly in most parts of this country, the 

 variety of oeconomy is so great, that Mr. Smith, in ' 

 his admirable Catalogue of the Bees of Great Britain, 

 speaks of it as follows : " If I were asked," he says, 

 " which genus of Bees would afford the most abundant 

 materials for an essay on the diversity of instinct, I 

 should without hesitation point out the genus Osmia." 

 The Osmia bicornis, an exceedingly common species, 

 which may be found in gardens in the early summer 



