7G4 
SOLITARY BEES 
pith. The cells are lined with a thin coat¬ 
ing of saliva, which hardens into a smooth 
cement, and are provisioned with a semi¬ 
liquid paste of partially digested nectar 
and pollen. An egg is laid in each cell. 
After the tunnel has been closed the 
mother bees still linger in the vicinity 
(Fig. 1). 
The two commonest genera of the short- 
tongued bees are Halictus and Andrena. 
The species of Halictus, often called 
“sweat bees,” vary in size from some of 
the smallest bees known to forms as large 
as the honeybee. The sexes mate in the 
fall, and the females (like the queen bum- 
Beginning with the cell in which she was 
born, each female digs a new group of. 
cells connected with the main tunnel. 
Altho there are then no males in existence, 
she provisions her cells with balls of bee- 
bread and lays eggs, which by partheno¬ 
genesis give birth to both males and fe¬ 
males. There are thus two generations 
among the Halicti. The autumnal genera¬ 
tion, consisting of both sexes, produces the 
following spring only females, which, altho 
unable to mate, yet produce by partheno¬ 
genesis both sexes, and in like manner the 
cycle- is repeated from - year to year. 
(Fig. 2). 
Pig. 5.-—Parasitic bees: 1. Coelioxys rufitarsus; a, female; b, male; 2, Nomada 
bella a, female; b, male; 3. Tri'epeolus donatus; a, female; b, male; 4. Melecta miranda 
female. 
blebees) hibernate during the winter. They 
reappear in the spring and dig burrows in 
the ground which are five or six inches in 
depth and have several short branches, in 
each of which and at the lower end of the 
tunnel a cell is built. In each cell a little 
ball of beebread, composed of pollen and 
honey, about the size of a small pea is 
stored for the use of the larvm. Halictus 
does not close the entrances to the cells. 
Fabre has apparently shown that the first 
generation of several species consists whol¬ 
ly of females. He is probably right. The 
eight or ten sisters, the offspring of one 
mother, continue to return to their cells at 
night and to share together their old home. 
Andrena is our largest bee genus, and 
more than 250 species have been described 
in America. Thousands often tunnel in 
the same sandy bank of earth until the 
ground appears as tho filled with shot- 
holes. It is, says Smith, a village or city 
of homes. A part of the species are ver¬ 
nal and fly only in the early part of the 
season, and a part are autumnal and fly 
only in autumn. Each burrow has a num¬ 
ber of short lateral branches. In these 
passages and in the enlarged lower end of 
the burrow the female stores a small mass 
of pollen and honey and lays an egg. The 
species are closely allied and are called 
ground bees, (Fig. 2.) 
