. American bee journal. Bee culture; Bees. KiG. 4.—Common bees of the northern States, i. Halictus craterus; ./.female: A. male. 2. H. lerouxii: ,7. female- /• male. 1. Coelioxys rufitarsis. female. 4. Osmia megacephala. female. 5. Halictus hortensis. female. 6 H. vierecki. female. 7. Osmia Dumila. female. 8. Andrena vicina; ,r. female; /•, male. 9. A. cratsgi; ,/. female; 1*. female. 10. Prosopis modesta; a. female; /'. male. ing it with food. The largest of all bees are the carpenter bees (Fig. 3), so- called because they are able with their powerful jaws to excavate tunnels in solid wood a
. American bee journal. Bee culture; Bees. KiG. 4.—Common bees of the northern States, i. Halictus craterus; ./.female: A. male. 2. H. lerouxii: ,7. female- /• male. 1. Coelioxys rufitarsis. female. 4. Osmia megacephala. female. 5. Halictus hortensis. female. 6 H. vierecki. female. 7. Osmia Dumila. female. 8. Andrena vicina; ,r. female; /•, male. 9. A. cratsgi; ,/. female; 1*. female. 10. Prosopis modesta; a. female; /'. male. ing it with food. The largest of all bees are the carpenter bees (Fig. 3), so- called because they are able with their powerful jaws to excavate tunnels in solid wood a foot in length. The cells are separated by partitions of small chips cemented together in a spiral; while the masses of bee-bread, or balls of pollen mixed with nectar on which the eggs are laid are about the size of a bean. In the eastern States Xylocopa virginica, a black bee about the size of X. caflfra (Fig. 3, 1), is a well known species. In Fig. 3 are shown three kinds of leaf-cutting bees. They carry pollen chiefly on a stiff brush of hairs on the underside of the abdomen, which in different species is black, yellow, or glistening white. On level-topped flow- ers, like the sunflower, they are able to suck nectar and brush up pollen at the same time. They are also especially well adapted to pollinate the flowers of the pea or legume family (). The species of Megachile are called leaf-cutting bees because they line their burrows with oblong or round pieces of leaves or flower petals, which they cut out with their mandibles. Usually they do little harm to the foli- age of plants, but occasionally the in- jury is more serious. A settler at Springfield, Idaho, relates the follow- ing experience : " Among the first trees set out about our house were two ash trees. As soon as the foliage began to appear the trees were attacked by leaf-cutter bees, which completely defoliated one and nearly the other. First, we noticed circular holes in many of the leaves,
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Keywords: ., bo, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1860, booksubjectbees, bookyear1861
