WILD BEES. 367 



Apathus barbutellus, a black species about three-quarters of an inch long, which has the front of 

 the thorax and the scutellum tawny, and the apex of the abdomen white; and A. vestalis (see figure, 

 p. 36G), which is rather larger and also black, with the front of the thorax orange-yellow, and the end 

 of the abdomen white, with a blackish or brownish spot at the apex. Of these insects there are only 

 perfect males and females. From their habits 110 workers are necessary. 



In the Humble Bees we have the conditions of social Bee-life reduced to their simplest form. 

 There are workers, it is true ; but the females also labour. The nest is really a family dwelling. No 

 cells are formed, and the larvse feed upon a mass of pollen and honey broiight into the nest. In the 

 Solitary Bees, which form the remainder of the family, we have, in a slightly modified form, the same 

 series of phenomena that are involved in the first foundation of the Humble Bee colony. The female 

 Bee makes her nest, stores it with food, and deposits her egg upon the latter ; but she lays in a 

 sufficient store for the support of the larva until it attains its full growth, and then closes up the 

 nest, and leaves it to itself. The larva, having consumed the provision laid up for it, spins a cocoon, 

 and undergoes its change to the pupa state, in which it usually remains until nearly a year has elapsed 

 from the time of the egg being laid, and then the perfect Bee makes its way out to seek its mate and 

 provide for the continuance of its species. 



In their habits, these Solitary Bees show considerable diversity. A great number bore holes in 

 decayed wood, such as old posts and trunks of trees ; others select the stems of such plants as 

 brambles and briars, from which they bore out the pith, making a tubular nest which they occupy 

 with their cells. Some of these, again, save themselves the trouble of hollowing out a nesting-place by 

 the simple process of making use of the ready-prepared tubular cavities offered to them by the 

 straws of thatch, cut reeds, and similar articles. A great number burrow in the ground, some 

 selecting sandy, others clayey situations, but generally in the face of a sloping bank or cliff; and 

 others, again, pierce the mortar of old walls, and there form the cells for their young. These cells are 

 not composed of wax, but either of earthy or vegetable materials, and we need not say that they never 

 possess the beautiful hexagonal form characteristic of those of the Hive Bee. 



Of the Scopulipede Solitary Apida?, or those furnished, like the Hive Bee and the Humble Bee, 

 with an apparatus for the conveyance of pollen on the hind legs, we may notice, in the first place, a 

 very common spring Bee, the Anthophora acervorum, the female of which resembles a rather small black 

 Humble Bee, with the hairs on the hind legs reddish-tawny, whilst the male is clothed with tawny 

 hairs, and has the intermediate legs much elongated, slender, and adorned with curious fringes of black 

 hairs. This Beo swarms in the neighbourhood of banks and cliffs as early in the year as April. Its 

 burrows are made in such situations, and occasionally in the mortar of old walls, barns, <tc. 



The VIOLET CARPENTER BEE (Xylocopa violacea), which belongs to a genus best represented in 

 warm countries, inhabits the south of Europe, but extends northwards into Germany. It is a large 

 insect much resembling a Humble Bee, of a black colour, with violet wings, upon which it flies noisily 

 in the sunshine, seeking a suitable place for its nest, for which it usually selects a wooden post or the 

 dead trunk of a tree. Having chosen a favourable position, the female sets to work with her powerful 

 jaws, and speedily gnaws straight into the wood for a short distance, and then, turning downwards, 

 proceeds to excavate a large tunnel in the interior of the post or tree, sometimes for a distance of a foot 

 or more. This laborious work being completed, the industrious insect collects a quantity of honey 

 and pollen, which she deposits in the bottom of the nest. Upon this she then lays an egg, and covers 

 up the whole with a roof composed of concentric rings of the fine dust produced during her boring 

 operations carefully kneaded together. This serves at once as a ceiling for the first cell and a floor for 

 the second. Upon it a fresh supply of food is deposited, with another egg, followed by a second 

 transverse partition, and the same processes are repeated until the whole tubular dwelling is occupied. 

 There is some reason to think that in the warmer countries inhabited by it there are two broods of 

 this Bee in the course of the summer. The Xylocopce, although so scantily represented in Europe, 

 have over 100 species in the tropical parts of the earth. The nearly allied genus (Euylossa), found in 

 South America, is remarkable for the great development of the tongue, which is two-thirds the length 

 of the body. One fine species, over an inch long (Euglossa dimidiates), found in Brazil and Surinam, 

 is velvet-black, with a metallic-green abdomen, having three transverse bands of yellow hairs, and the 

 extremity clothed with bright red hairs. 



