The flower and the bee; plant life and pollination . -lily bee. This bee in this locality is never found onany other flower, but elsewhere it is met with on other speciesof the water-lily family, or NymphoeaceoB. Since, however, itconfines its visits to the water-lily family it is an oligotropicbee, and the only species of the great genus Halictus that isknown to behave in this way. But in Andrena this is a common phenomenon; for instance,in Washington County, Wis., according to Graenicher, 24 ofthe 47 indigenous species of Andrena are oligotropic. This isthe largest genus of North American be
The flower and the bee; plant life and pollination . -lily bee. This bee in this locality is never found onany other flower, but elsewhere it is met with on other speciesof the water-lily family, or NymphoeaceoB. Since, however, itconfines its visits to the water-lily family it is an oligotropicbee, and the only species of the great genus Halictus that isknown to behave in this way. But in Andrena this is a common phenomenon; for instance,in Washington County, Wis., according to Graenicher, 24 ofthe 47 indigenous species of Andrena are oligotropic. This isthe largest genus of North American bees. They are some-times called ground-bees, since they build branched tunnels8 or 10 inches deep in the soil of sandy pastures and part of the species are vernal or fly in springtime, while apart are autumnal and fly only in autumn. They provisiontheir cells with balls of bee-bread, about the size of a garden-pea, composed of pollen moistened with nectar. An egg islaid on the top of the mass of bee-bread, and the cell is thenclosed. 108. Fig. 54. Yellow Water-Lily. Nymphcea advena Largely pollinated by small flies, Hilara atra THE FLOWER AND THE BEE The bright-yellow staminate aments of the pussy-willow{Salix discolor) (Fig. 55) are great favorites of vernal speciesof Andrena, whence Smith calls them harbingers of pussy-willows bloom in northern New England during thelatter part of April, and their bright-yellow aments are verypleasing objects in the cold, gray landscape. They are veryattractive to a varied company of insects, as honey-bees, bum-blebees, flies, butterflies, and beetles. It is a busy scene andone which the naturalist can never tire of watching; but it isnot one of unmixed happiness, for little tragedies take placebefore our eyes. Among those which come to sip the nectarare little dance-flies (Empididcp), and not infrequently theyare seized and carried away bodily by black robber-ants whichroam everywhere. Honey-bees and many species of And
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