ened before it was used in building the 

 tower, and even the sides of the tunnel 

 were lined with carefully prepared plas- 

 ter. A great amount of water was 

 necessary for all this and it was drawn 

 doubtless from the river and stored in 

 the abdomen from which it was forced 

 as needed. 



At two o'clock the tunnel was well 

 under way and the entrance chamber 

 was completed, and my fuzzy friend was 

 making a cell for the reception of an 



The entrance chamber is perhaps the 

 most interesting part of this bee's nest. 

 It curves down over the bank and the 

 sides curiously are not joined so that a 

 narrow opening extends down the cen- 

 ter. This keeps the chamber from 

 irregular cracking such as would likely 

 occur under our southwest sun, but it 

 would seem to destroy somewhat its pro- 

 tecting value. 



The Anthophora in this region visits 

 several different flowers, but in the vicin- 

 ity of these nests I saw them busy on one 

 of our rattle weeds. . The males take no 

 part in nest building but loiter about on 

 the flowers sipping the nectar and eat- 

 ing the pollen while they wait to attract 

 the attention of their busy mates. At 

 night and during the very warm part of 

 the day, they crawl into the unoccupied 



holes. It is an interesting sight to see 

 them peering out, their eyes shining with 

 a curious metallic radiance. 



Anthophora neomexicana looks like a 

 small bumble bee, but is much more act- 

 ive when flying, and never lives in com- 

 munities as bumble bees do. 



The food stored in the cell for the 

 young is a very stiff light yellow paste, 

 made by mixing pollen and honey. The 

 young bees do not pupate until after the 

 warm days of spring and do not leave 

 the nest until some time in May. Even 

 after they have torn away the cells they 

 remain in the tunnel. With a small stick 

 I prodded out five from a tunnel, but 

 they all came quickly back and arranged 

 themselves one behind the other as at 

 first. 



It is an interesting sight to see a whole 

 village of these bees busy building, clean- 

 ing and provisioning their nests. One 

 may recognize great differences in 

 behavior and intelligence even here. One 

 bee that was at work near the nest that 

 I was especially interested in, was so 

 stupid in finding her nest that I named 

 her Blunder-Head. For ten trips I made 

 notes on her actions and only once did 

 she find her home at the first trial. On 

 the other hand the bee that I watched the 

 better part of a day never once missed 

 her location. 



WiLMATTE Porter Cockerell. 



QUEEN OF THE BEAUTIFUL. 



With a myriad flowers her robe is decked. 



And beneath her sunshiny eyes 

 A smile of perpetual youth is flecked 



With the blushes that ever arise. 



Now the little blooms peep from the woodland leaves. 



Since Flora commanded today; 

 And each its own fragrance and shading enweaves 



In the odorous air of the May. 



There's waving and tossing afar to the breeze 



That plays o'er the. jubilant land; 

 And flowers that spangle the old apple trees. 



Enchant w4th intoxicant wand. 



So today let us sing of the beautiful queen — 



"May her plenteous horn be blessed ; 

 May our gardens o'erladen with flowers be seen. 

 All fresh on the flower-queen's breast. 



— Willis Edwin Hurd. 



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