SCOPULIPEDES CARPENTER-BEES 33 



species), are referred to the Scopulipedes ; in some forms a con- 

 siderable resemblance to the Bombi is exhibited, indeed the 

 female of one of onr species of Anthophora is so very like the 

 worker of Bombus liortorum var. harrisdlus, that it would puzzle 

 any one to distinguish them by a superficial inspection, the 

 coloiir of the hair on the hind legs being the only obvious differ- 

 ence. Anthophora is one of the most extensive and widely 

 distributed of the genera of bees. Some of the species make 

 burrows in cliffs and form large colonies which are continued for 

 many years in the same locality. Friese has published many 

 details of the industry and metamorphoses of some of the species 

 of this genus ; the most remarkable point he has discovered being 

 that A. personata at Strasburg takes two years to accomplish the 

 life-cycle of one generation. Some of the European species of the 

 genus have been found to be very subject to the attacks of para- 

 sites. An anomalous beetle, Sitaris, has been found in the nests 

 of A. pilipes ; and this same Anthophora is also parasitised by 

 another beetle, Meloe, as well as by a bee of the genus Melecta. 



The genus Xylocopa ^ contains many of the largest and most 

 powerful of the bees, and is very widely distributed over the 

 earth. In Europe only four or five species have been found, and 

 none of them extend far northwards, X. violacea being the only 

 one that comes so far as Paris. They are usually black or blue- 

 black in colour, of broad, robust build, with shining integuments 

 more or less covered with hair. X. violacea is known as the 

 carpenter-bee from its habit of working in dry wood ; it does not 

 touch living timber, but will form its nest in all sorts of dried 

 wood. It makes a cylindrical hole, and this gives access to three 

 or four parallel galleries in which the broad cells are placed ; the 

 cells are always isolated by a partition ; the bee forms this by 

 cementing together with the products of its salivary glands the 

 fragments of wood it cuts out. Its habits have been described 

 at length by Eeaumur, who alludes to it under the name of 

 " abeille perce-bois." This bee hibernates in the imago condition, 

 both sexes reappearing in the spring. Possibly there is more than 

 one generation in the year, as Eeaumur states that specimens 

 that were tiny larvae on the 12fch of June had by the 2nd of July 

 consumed all their stock of provisions ; they then fasted for a few 

 days, and on the 7th or 8th of July became pupae, and in the first 



' Refer to p. 70 postea, note, as to a recent discovery about Xylocojja. 

 VOL. VI D 



