Bramble-bees and Others 



angular flight, they go from flower to flower, 

 without alighting. They hover on the wing, 

 looking about them, more intent on pairing 

 than on eating. 



The Early Hallctus did not supply me with 

 any definite information, partly through my 

 own fault, partly through the difficulty of ex- 

 cavation in a stony soil, which calls for the 

 pick-axe rather than the spade. I suspect her 

 of having the nuptial customs of the Cylin- 

 drical Halictus. 



There is another difference, which causes 

 certain variations of detail in these customs. 

 In the autumn, the females of the Cylindrical 

 Halictus leave their burrows seldom or not at 

 all. Those who do go out invariably come 

 back after a brief halt upon the flowers. All 

 pass the winter in the natal cells. On the 

 other hand, those of the Zebra Halictus move 

 their quarters, meet the males outside and do 

 not return to the burrows, which my autumn 

 excavations always find deserted. They hi- 

 bernate in the first hiding-places that offer. 



In the spring, the females, fecundated since 

 the autumn, come out, the Cylindrical Halicti 

 from their cells, the Zebra Halicti from their 

 various shelters, the Early Halicti apparently 



446 



