Bramble-bees and Others 



sexes is of the simplest. It is not necessary to 

 take hold of the male. He can be recognized 

 even at a distance by his slenderer frame, by 

 his long, narrow abdomen, by his red sash. 

 They might easily suggest two different spe- 

 cies. The female is a pale russet-brown; the 

 male is black, with a few red segments to his 

 abdomen. Well, during the May building- 

 operations, there is not a Bee in sight clad in 

 black, with a slender, red-belted abdomen, in 

 short, not a male. 



Though the males do not come to visit the 

 environs of the burrows, they might be else- 

 where, particularly on the flowers where the 

 females go plundering. I did not fail to ex- 

 plore the fields, insect-net in hand. My search 

 was invariably fruitless. On the other hand, 

 those males, now nowhere to be found, are 

 plentiful later, in September, on the close-set 

 flowers of the eringo on the borders of the 

 paths. 



This singular colony, reduced exclusively to 

 mothers, made me suspect the existence of sev- 

 eral generations a year, whereof one at least 

 must possess the other sex. I continued there- 

 fore, when the building-work was over, to 

 keep a daily watch on the establishment of 



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