212 JdiKNAi. \E\\ York Ento^ioioi.ical Society. [Voi. x. 



interesting to discover if the same species of Hymenoptera will fre- 

 quent the place another year. 



My acquaintance with the inmates of this hostelry aroused a desire 

 to learn more of the slee ing habits of other Hymenoptera, and excur- 

 sions in the vicinity for that pun ose were not unproductive, although 

 I did not find another such aggregation of species. In a field not far 

 distant there were many wild carrots or lace flowers in bloom. Every 

 evening one could find a few specimens of Bombiis americanorum 

 clinging by its legs to the unde- side of the flower-head, back down. 

 It did not use the mandibles. The specimens did not use any par- 

 ticular pan > f the field, but were widely scattered. Another evening, 

 while destroying a rail fence in the search for Psocidoe, I came across a 

 tiny male specimen of Cerccris keuiiicotti resting under a loose piece of 

 rail. Later I found a few specimens of Halictiis ligatus and Odynerus 

 conformis ash ejj on grass-heads in an adjoining field. They were only 

 for two nights, and were not in numbers. 



Mr. Schwarz has kindly told me of a case observed by Mr. Barber 

 and himself in New Mexico. At Las Vegas Hot Springs they saw 

 five or six specimens df a bee, Amegilla smitJiii Cress., asleep and 

 clinging by their mandibles to a grass-stem. It was on the 13th of 

 August, and early in the evening, still light enough to collect. The 

 specimens taken wt re all males. 



When I began observations on these insects the paper of Mr. 

 Schwarz was all that was known to me, and inquiry failed to develop 

 anything further. However, I made .several explorations into ento- 

 mological literature which show that my observations are not new. 

 Below I have brought together what I have found recorded, which 

 may save others much search. 



Mr. Schwarz in his paper, "Sleeping Trees of Hymenoptera" 

 (Proc. Entom. Soc. Washington, IV, pp. 24-26, 1896), gives an enter- 

 taining description of the sleeping habits of several Texan bees. 



Briefly, Mr. Schwarz found that ui)on certain trees, or rather large 

 shrubs, a number of bees gathered nightly to sleep. He observed 

 that these bushes differed in nowise from others nearby unused by 

 insects. 'I'he species were Melissodes pygmcBus and drlioxys texanus. 

 They grasped the twig with all six legs, and the mandibles firmly 

 inserted in the wood. 



Mr. Cresson, in his paper on Hymenoptera Texana (Trans. Amer. 

 Entom. Soc, IV, 1872, p. 201), states that Belfrage said that Scolia 



