The True Bees 



The solitary bees of the family Anthophoridae are in general 

 thickly clothed with hair, and many of them burrow into the 

 earth, forming tunnels in which they form earthern cells, staring 



them with a supply of pollen 

 and honey upon which the 

 egg is laid and the cell is then 

 closed. 



Much good work can be 

 done in the way of accurate 

 observation upon the members 

 of this group ; the length of 

 the larval life, duration of the 

 egg stage, and other points 

 have not been accurately fol- 

 lowed out, although some of 

 the European species are fairly 

 well known. Certain species 

 bore into wood instead of en- 

 tering the earth, or they oc- 

 cupy old burrows of some 

 carpenter bee. There are cer- 

 tain curious parasites of these 

 bees, and the life of one of 

 them has been studied by the English observer Newport. 



The cuckoo bees of the family Nomadidae without exception 

 live parasitically in the nest of other bees, and have undoubtedly 

 originated from other bees through 

 different lines of descent — probably 

 from those of the group just men- 

 tioned. As their parasitic habits 

 would prepare us to learn, their legs 

 are without the scopa for the car- 

 riage of pollen, and their life is 

 practically that of the cuckoo, the 

 female laying her eggs in cells al- 

 ready prepared by some more in- 

 dustrious and conscientious bee, 

 and her larvae living at the ex- 

 pense of the offspring of the cell- 

 maker. 



7 



Fig. 3. — Queen cells and worker brood of 

 honey bees. (From Benton.) 



Fig. 4. — Queen of the common 

 honey bee. (From Benton.) 



