246 
Psyche 
[September 
worms, are active agents in working over the soil. 
The openings into the burrows are not exposed, but each 
is completely covered by its mound of loose soil. Sunflowers 
abounded in this region, and the returning bees were heavily 
laden with golden pollen, not only on the legs, but on the 
under side of the abdomens as well. Close examination of 
specimens later revealed that there were rows of hairs on 
the abdomen and legs, the purpose of which is readily ap- 
parent. 
A returning bee has little difficulty in finding her bur- 
row, and alights upon it without hesitation or orientation. 
She does not kick away the soil to make an opening as do 
certain wasps ; in fact, I doubt if her heavily laden condition 
would permit her to do so, but she immediately pokes her 
head into the loose soil of the mound, and with a few mys- 
terious pushes, wriggles through somehow, without for an 
instant uncovering the burrow. 
On September 1, the date when I discovered the large 
population in 1918, the mounds were inspected at noon, but, 
although they were watched for an hour, no life was seen 
about them. At three o’clock when I returned, many of the 
bees were on the wing bringing in pollen. A few were not so 
laden, but out of about one hundred counted in one area, 
only three were seen returning to the nest empty-handed; 
however these might have been still occupied with burrow- 
ing. One nest was opened after one of these unladen mothers 
had entered ; the digging was indeed a task, for the yellow 
clay was gummy and unyielding. The burrow was f inch in 
diameter, and went down straight into the ground for 17 
inches. In the bottom was the mother bee, but no cell was 
there : the burrow was not yet quite ready for pollen. I was 
not at hand when the excavating was going on, but, as men- 
tioned before, they work close together in a small circum- 
scribed area, and they may possibly use for nidification the 
burrows from which they emerge. 
It rained all of September 2, and when I examined the 
nests the next day, I found that all the little hills of loose soil 
had been washed smooth and packed down over the nests, 
and the openings had not yet been uncovered. One bee 
