122 PEPACTON 



THE SOLITARY BEE 



If you " leave no stone unturned " in your walks 

 through the fields, you may perchance discover the 

 abode of one of our solitary bees. Indeed, I have 

 often thought what a chapter of natural history 

 might be written on "Life under a Stone," so many 

 of our smaller creatures take refuge there, — ants, 

 crickets, spiders, wasps, bumblebees, the solitary' 

 bee, mice, toads, snakes, newts, etc. What do 

 these things do in a country where there are no 

 stones 1 A stone makes a good roof, a good shield ; 

 it is water-proof and fire-proof, and, until the sea- 

 son becomes too rigorous, frost-proof, too. The 

 field mouse wants no better place to nest than 

 beneath a large, flat stone, and the bumblebee is 

 entirely satisfied if she can get possession of his old 

 or abandoned quarters. I have even heard of a 

 swarm of hive bees going under a stone that was 

 elevated a little from the ground. After that, I 

 did not marvel at Samson's bees going into the 

 carcass or skeleton of the lion. 



In the woods one day (it was in November) I 

 turned over a stone that had a very strange-looking 

 creature under it, — a species of salamander I had 

 never before seen, the banded salamander. It was 

 five or six inches long, and was black and white in 

 alternate bands. It looked like a creature of the 

 night, — darkness dappled with moonlight, — and 

 so it proved. I wrapped it up in some leaves and 

 took it home in my pocket. By day it would 



