THE HOME OF THE BEES." 369 
Anthrax, together with several beetles, such as the Meloe, 
Stylops, and Antherophagus prey upon them. 
The power of boring the most symmetrical tunnels in 
Solid wood reaches its perfection in the large Virginian 
Carpenter-bee ( Xylocopa Virginica). This bee is as large, 
and some allied exotic species are often considerably 
larger than the Humble-bee, but not clothed with such 
dense hairs. We have received from Mr. James Angus, 
of West Farms, N. Y., a piece of trellis from a grape- 
vine, made of pine wood, containing the cells and young 
in various stages of growth, together with the larve and 
chrysalids of Anthrax sinuosa, a species of fly parasitic 
on the larva, which buries its head in its soft body, and 
feeds on its juices. (Plate 10, Fig. 5, tunnel containing 
pollen and young; 6, the larva; 7, the pupa, of Anthrax 
sinuosa. : 
Mr. Angus thus writes us regarding its habits under 
date of July 19: “I asked an intelligent and observing 
carpenter yesterday, if he knew how long it took the 
Xylocopa to bore her tunnel. He said he thought she 
bored about one-quarter of an inch a day. I don’t think 
myself she bores more than one-half inch, if she does that. 
If I mistake not, it takes her about two days to make her 
own length at the first’ start; but this being across the 
grain of the wood may not be so easily done as the re- 
mainder, which runs parallel with it. She always follows 
the grain of the wood, with the exception of the entrance, 
which is about her own length. The tunnels run from 
one to one and a half feet in length. They generally run 
in opposite directions from the opening, and sometimes 
other galleries are run one above the other, using the same 
Opening. I think they only make new tunnels when old 
Ones are not to be found, and that the same tunnels are 
AMERICAN NAT., VOL. L 47 . 
