282 
BRITISH BEES. 
lie perpetuated by the perpetuation they supply to that 
which supports them, and in this circle of reciprocal 
good offices lend an additional charm to the genial sea¬ 
sons, by the animation which they give to the face of 
nature, in embellishing the plants they visit with their 
vivacity and music. 
These bees are gay insects, for both sexes are richly 
spotted with yellow, and they present the single instance 
which occurs amongst our bees of the male being con¬ 
siderably the largest, and so boisterous is he in his 
amours that he forcibly conveys his partner to the upper 
regions of the air, where she is compelled to yield to his 
solicitations. His whole structure is fully adapted to 
carry out this violent abduction, as well in the length 
and power of his limbs as in the prehensile teeth with 
which the apex of his abdomen is armed. 
We have but one species of the genus, although the 
southern parts of the Continent abound in them. The 
habits of ours differ very considerably from those of the 
preceding genus. First, in the peculiarity just described, 
and then in the formation of their nests. They do 
not, like the majority of the wild bees, excavate or bore 
a cavity for themselves, but take one already formed 
by the xylophagous larva of some considerable insect, 
such as Cerambyx moschatus, or Cossus ligniperda. 
This they line, to the depth suitable to them, with 
cottony down which they scrape from the leaves or 
stalk of the Woolly Hedge-nettle (Stachys Germanicd), 
the Wild Lychnis (Agrostemma ), and other woolly¬ 
leaved plants. In collecting this wool the insect is 
very active, scraping it off rapidly with its broad man¬ 
dibles, and as this is doing she gradually rolls it up 
into a little ball, making with the vibration of her wings 
