Bramble-bees and Others 



series of Anthldia and Megachiles, running up 

 to a dozen. There was a melancholy side to 

 this success. All my series, with not one ex- 

 ception, were ravaged by parasites. Those 

 of the Megachlle (M. sericans, Fonscol), 

 who fashions her goblets with roblnia-, 

 holm- and terebinth-leaves, were Inhabited by 

 Calioxys octodentata;^ those of the Anthi- 

 dlum {A. florentinum, Latr.) were occu- 

 pied by a Leucospls. Both kinds were 

 swarming with a colony of pigmy para- 

 sites whose name I have not yet been able to 

 discover. In short, my pan-pipe hives, though 

 very useful to me from other points of view, 

 taught me nothing about the order of the 

 sexes among the Leaf-cutters and the cotton- 

 weavers. 



I was more fortunate with three Osmlae 

 (O. tricornis, Latr., O. corniita, Latr., 

 and O. Latreillii, Spin.), all of whom gave 

 me splendid results, with reed-stumps ar- 

 ranged either against the walls of my garden, 

 as I have just said, or near their customary 

 abode, the huge nests of the Mason-bee of the 

 Sheds. One of them, the Three-horned Os- 



^A Parasitic Bee. — Translator's Note. 



Z04 



