54 INSECT TRANSFORMATIONS. 



ignita), on approaching this vigilant sentinel, fly off 

 in all haste, with evident fear of the consequences. 

 But, as Walckenaer justly remarks, should the part- 

 ner of its cares return from a foraging excursion, and 

 take two or three circular flights around the entrance 

 to announce its arrival, the sentinel bee immediately 

 makes way by withdrawing into the interior. Should 

 the sentinel bee be absent through any cause from 

 its post, and the forager enter without announcing 

 its arrival, it is immediately driven back and pu- 

 nished for so unpardonable a breach of etiquette.* 



Another circumstance worthy of notice in the 

 manners of these bees {Hcdicti) is, that they fly 

 directly into the entrance of their nests without ever 

 alighting upon any contiguous object, a circum- 

 stance wliich is attributed by Walckenaer to their 

 fear of enemies, numliers of which are always lurk- 

 ing about with evil intent. More than one species 

 of spider and several sorts of wasps lie in wait to 

 make prey of them, besides those we have men- 

 tioned as being on the alert to introduce their eggs 

 into their nest. But their most formidable enemy is 

 a solitary wasp {Cerccris ornata), numbers of 

 which make their nests in the very midst of their 

 colonies. The wasps surround the interior margin 

 of their holes with a rampart of sand, agglutinated 

 with a whitish mortar, and well polished. The gal- 

 lery is five inches deep, somewhat in the form of an 

 S, in which the female lays her eggs, with a store of 

 provisions for her future young, consisting of the 

 living bodies of her bee neighbours, the poor Ilalicli. 

 It is only on fine days, between eleven and four 

 o'clock, tliat the mother wasp engages in the chase 

 of the bees, and may be seen flying with the most 

 lively ardour around their nests. When an unfortu- 



* Walck. Mem. des Abeilles Solit. Paris, 1817. 



