188 BRITISH BEES. 



somewhat different from its usual application, for here, 

 and whenever used in entomology, it is meant to signify 

 that they burrow collectively in large communities, form- 

 ing what is called their metropolis, although each bores 

 its independent and separate tube, wherein to deposit its 

 store of eggs. The males, neither in these insects nor 

 throughout the whole family of the bees, participate at 

 all in the labours required for the preservation and 

 nurture of the progeny, a duty that wholly devolves upon 

 the maternal solicitude of the female, — these males 

 having fulfilled their mission, which is not perhaps re- 

 stricted to their sexual instinct, but may also be condu- 

 cive to the grand operation of the family in the economy 

 of nature, viz. the fertilization of the flowering plants, 

 flit from blossom to blossom, and thus convey about the 

 impregnating dust. They may also be often seen bask- 

 ing in the sunshine upon the leaves of shrubs, and 

 thence they become lost or dispersed or the prey of their 

 many enemies, — birds or insects, which are always on 

 the alert in search of ravin. 



The aspect selected by the females for their burrows, 

 varies according to the species. Some choose a northern, 

 and others a southern aspect ; thus, the C. succincta 

 seems to prefer the former, and the C. fodiens the latter, 

 as does also the C. Daviesana ; and where they burrow 

 they congregate in enormous multitudes. The mortar 

 interstices of an old wall, or a vertical sand-rock, which, 

 from exposure, is sufficiently softened for their purpose, 

 are equally agreeable to them ; nor have they any objec- 

 tion to clay banks. 



In these localities each individual perforates a cylin- 

 drical cavity, slightly larger than itself, and which it 

 excavates to a depth of from eight to ten inches, or even 



