274 
BRITISH BEES. 
are the only two spots where I have known it to be found. 
It is one of the most vivid fliers among the bees, and 
darts about, especially during brilliant sunshine in June, 
with the velocity of a sand-martin, and its note is shrill, 
but harmonious; it is not often caught upon flowers, 
being so extremely alert, but has been seen to visit the 
common Viper’s Bugloss ( Echium vulgar e ). Tli eM.odon- 
tura, the last of the second division, which is known only 
in a single male specimen in the cabinets of the British 
Museum, is one of Dr. Leach’s west country captures, of 
which nothing precise is known, and it is only noticed 
here on account of the singular peculiarity of the arma¬ 
ture of the apex of its abdomen, which brings it closer 
to the genus Osmia in that particular, although the ma¬ 
jority of the males of the genus have the terminal seg¬ 
ment slightlv furcated. 
In these observations I have commenced with the 
division which contains the type, and to which the pre¬ 
sent name of the genus would attach from that circum¬ 
stance, were it ever thought desirable to separate those 
species, which have dilated anterior tarsi in the males, 
into a distinct genus, but which I could scarcely recom¬ 
mend. In the arrangement of the species in the pre¬ 
ceding list, I have placed these latter first, from their 
more symmetrical appearance in the cabinet, by leading 
down to the terminal smaller species in due order, from 
these larger and more conspicuous ones. 
The M. Willughbiella and maritima prefer decaying 
wood, and they have been found upon decaying Willows 
in the Midland Counties in extreme abundance; they 
might be called gregarious were the material within 
which they burrow connected in a continuous plane. 
The M. Willughbiella makes use of the leaves of the 
