Bramble-bees and Others 



I was able to learn, not without a great ex- 

 penditure of time and patience, that the dif- 

 ferent Anthidia of my neighbourhood have 

 recourse without distinction to any cottony 

 plant. Most of the wadding is supplied by 

 the Compositae, particularly the following: 

 Centaurea solstkialis, or St. Barnaby's thistle; 

 Centaurea paniculata, or panicled centaury; 

 Echinops ritro, or small globe-thistle; Ono- 

 pordon illyriciim, or Illyrian cotton-thistle; 

 HeUchrysiim stachas, or wild everlasting; 

 Filago germanica, or common cotton-rose. 

 Next come the Labiatse : Marrub'iitm vtilgare, 

 or common white horehound; Ballota fetida, 

 or stinking horehound; Calamintha nepeta, 

 or lesser calamint; Salvia athiopis, or woolly 

 sage. Lastly, the Solanaceae : Verbasciim 

 thapsus, or shepherd's club ; Verhascum sinua- 

 turn, or scollop-leaved mullein. 



The Cotton-bees' flora, we see, incomplete 

 as it is in my notes, embraces plants of very 

 different aspect. There is no resemblance in 

 appearance between the proud candelabrum 

 of the cotton-thistle, with its red tufts, and the 

 humble stalk of the globe-thistle, with its sky- 

 blue capitula; between the plentiful leaves of 

 the mullein and the scanty foliage of the St. 



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