350 ACULEATE-IIYMEXOPTERA OF GUERNSEY. 



Of Halictus we have fourteen species, and amongst these 

 is the smallest of British Bees, H. minutissimus, the male only 

 measuring 1^ lines in length. Halictus gramincus, of which 

 I have taken one specimen only, is one of the greatest rarities 

 in England, being only recorded for certain from Cove Com- 

 mon, in Hampshire. The genus Andrena may be said to be 

 the harbingers of spring, as they are the earliest of our bees. 

 Fourteen species have been taken in Guernsey. One of 

 the most beautiful is Andrena fulva, which is common 

 in the spring and frequents the flowers of the gooseberry. 

 Andrena flessoe is worthy of special note as it is not on 

 the British list, never having been taken in Great Britain. 

 It is a large and handsome species, black and white in colour, 

 with dark wings, and is not uncommon here. It is widely 

 distributed on the Continent, extending even into Algiers. 



Of the genus Panurgus we have both the British species. 

 They have very similar habits to the Andrcnidce, excavating bur- 

 rows and laying up a store of pollen and honey in a similar manner. 



The Nomadce are popularly known by the name of wasp- 

 bees from their close resemblance to the Vespidce, their colour 

 being yellow or red intermixed with black. They are cuckoo 

 bees, making no provision for their young themselves, but the 

 female laying its eggs in the cells of other species. Of these 

 I have taken five species. Epeolus productus and Melccta 

 armata are also parasites ; the latter, a very handsome bee, is 

 parasitic on Anthophora pilipes. 



The bees included in the genus Megachile are popularly 

 called leaf-cutters. We have two species — the rare British 

 species, Megacliile argeutata, being abundant on FAncresse 

 Common, making holes in the sand-banks and forming its cells 

 with leaves cut with great precision from the rose, laburnum, 

 and other plants. 



Anthidium manicatum is the next in order, and is a very 

 pretty species. It forms its cell in any suitable hole which it 

 finds ready made, such as the burrows of Cossus liginiperda, 

 the Goat Moth. The cell is lined with down collected from 

 plants with woolly leaves. 



The genus Osmia are called mason-bees from their habit 

 of mixing sand, earth and minute pebbles, with a secretion 

 which they emit, and of Avhich they form their cells. I have 

 taken two species here, one of w T hich, Osmia bicomis, has 

 never been taken in Great Britain. 



Eacera longicomis, or the long-horned bee, burrows six 

 or eight inches into a clayey bank and forms a cell at the end 

 of its burrow. 



