﻿i BEES DASYGASTRES SOCIALES 5 3 



of this bee, the mass being located in a hollow in masonry or 

 some similar position. Each cell when completed is half filled 

 witli pollen in the usual manner, and an egg is then laid in it. 

 This bee is much infested by parasites, and is eaten by the Grey 

 Hornbill (Meniceros bicornis). 



Megachile lanata is one of the Hymenoptera that in East 

 India enter houses to build their own habitations. According 

 to Home both sexes take part in the work of construction, and 

 the spots chosen are frequently of a very odd nature. The 

 material used is some kind of clay, and the natural situation 

 may be considered to be the interior of a hollow tube, such as 

 the stem of a bamboo ; but the barrel of a gun, and the hollow 

 in the back of a book that has been left lying open, have been 

 occasionally selected by the Insect as suitable. Smith states 

 that the individuals developed in the lower part of a tubular 

 series of this species were females, " which sex takes longer to 

 develop, and thus an exit is not required for them so soon as for 

 the occupants of the upper cells which are males." M. proxima, a 

 species almost exactly similar in appearance to M. lanata, makes 

 its cells of leaf-cuttings, however, and places them in soft soil. 



Fabre states that M. albocincta, which commences the 

 formation of its nest in a worm -burrow by means of a barricade, 

 frequently makes the barricade, but no nest ; sometimes it will 

 indeed make the barricade more than twice the proper size, and 

 thus completely fill up the worm burrow. Fabre considers that 

 these eccentric proceedings are due to individuals that have already 

 formed proper nests elsewhere, and that after completing these 

 have still some strength remaining, which they use up in this 

 fruitless manner. 



The Social bees (Sociales) include, so far as is yet known, 

 only a very small number of genera, and are so diverse, both in 

 habits and structure, that the propriety of associating them in 

 one group is more than doubtful ; the genera are Bombus (Fig. 

 331, vol. v.), with its commensal genus or section, Psithyrus 

 (Fig. 23): Melipona (Fig. 24), in which Trigona and Tctragona 

 may at present be included, and Apis (Fig. 6) ; this latter genus 

 comprising the various honey-bees that are more or less com- 

 pletely domesticated in different parts of the world. 



In the genus Bombus the phenomena connected with the 

 social life are more similar to what we find among wasps 



