286 
BRITISH BEES. 
maxillosa, Linnseus. 
maxillosa, Kirby. 
2. campanularum, Kirby, <$ ? . 2-2^ lines. 
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 
These insects are named from a forceps, and 
c TTOfia, a mouth, —in allusion to the forcipate form of 
the mandibles, which are strong, and cross each other in 
inaction. 
They and the next genus are styled carpenter bees, 
but they are not more consistently thus called than 
might be Antliophora furcata and the genus Cera - 
tina; they, in fact, like the latter, just as often avail 
themselves of an empty straw to form their cells in, or 
the cylinder that has been drilled by some xylophagous 
beetle of their own size, as they themselves drill into 
palings and solid wood for the purpose, but when they 
do this, it is facilitated to them by their powerful man¬ 
dibles and their square and strong head. They are cer¬ 
tainly very compactly formed, their structure being in¬ 
dicative of great power, of course relatively to their size. 
When they drill their cylinders themselves they are 
extremely persevering in its execution, and in the pro¬ 
cess, the material they extract, which is like fine sawdust, 
they withdraw from the depth of the cavity by passing 
it beneath them, and pushing it out at the orifice by 
means of their posterior legs and the apex of the abdo¬ 
men, for they are too long to be able to turn within the 
cavity they have formed, its capacity not being sufficient 
to permit this, as it is very little larger in diameter than 
themselves. I have repeatedly watched them in these 
operations. 
Having found or drilled a suitable cylindrical tube, they 
