ANTHIDIUM. 
279 
continued until the completion of the five or six cells 
necessary to fill the tube, when another is formed with 
the same routine, if her store of eggs is not exhausted ; 
and the orifice of the tube, upon the completion of the 
last cell, which is closed in the usual way, is filled up 
with earth. Should any casualty interfere with her la¬ 
bours or temporarily derange their utility, without the 
obstruction being one that would permanently affect it, 
the remarkable patience and rapidity with which the 
repairs are effected, or the obstructions removed, is 
worthy of all admiration,—the aropyrj, or love of off¬ 
spring, being the predominant passion which overthrows 
and controls every difficult}^. 
When full fed, the larva spins a thick cocoon of silk, 
which is attached to the sides of the cell; the outer 
coating of this cocoon is of a coarser and browner silk 
than the interior, which is formed of very delicate threads 
of a slatv-whitish colour and of a close texture, and 
which is as lustrous as satin. The exact period of their 
evolution from this state is not recorded, but it is pro¬ 
bable that they pass the winter enveloped in their cocoon 
as pupae, and in their season come forth the following 
year. 
Genus 20. ANTHIDIUM, Fabricius. 
(Plate XIII. fig. 1 S ? •) 
Apis c 2 (3, Kirby. 
Gen. Char.: Body subglabrous. Head transverse, as 
wide as the thorax; ocelli in a triangle on the vertex, 
which is flat; antennae shortish, slender, filiform, sub- 
geniculated; the scape stouter than the flagellum, sub- 
