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True Bees — Part 2

The solitary bees of the family Anthophoridae are in general thickly clothed with hair, and many of them burrow into the earth, forming tunnels in which they form earthern cells, storing them with a supply of pollen and honey upon which the egg is laid and the cell is then closed.

Much good work can be done in the way of accurate observation upon the members of this group; the length of the larval life, duration of the egg stage, and other points have not been accurately followed out, although some of the European species are fairly well known. Certain species bore into wood instead of entering the earth, or they occupy old burrows of some carpenter bee. There are certain curious parasites of these bees, and the life of one of them has been studied by the English observer Newport.

The cuckoo bees of the family Nomadidae without exception live parasitically in the nest of other bees, and have undoubtedly originated from other bees through different lines of descent--probably from those of the group just mentioned. As their parasitic habits would prepare us to learn, their legs are without the scopa for the carriage of pollen, and their life is practically that of the cuckoo, the female laying her eggs in cells already prepared by some more industrious and conscientious bee, and her larvae living at the expense of the offspring of the cell-maker.

Curiously enough, these bees seem to be on perfectly good terms with their hosts, visiting flowers in their company and visiting their burrows as unconcernedly as though they were the result of their own labors. Emerton has observed that there is frequently enough food for the larva of the cell-maker and the larva of the cuckoo bee, and that they both thrive and issue as adults simultaneously. This cuckoo life is found with bees of certain other groups, and will be referred to later.

The rather smooth and active little bees of the family Ceratinidae, which have been termed small carpenter bees, are extremely interesting creatures, and are generally metallic blue, blue-black or bright green four-winged flies, not hairy, and are very active in the summer time. They bore tunnels into the stems of pithy plants and form their cells in these burrows. They are very commonly found in brambles. The cells are lined with a delicate silky membrane and are separated from one another by mud partitions. The common Ceratina dupla is a familiar example. With this bee the cells are filled with a paste of honey and pollen upon which the larvae feed. The transformation to imago occurs in the latter part of July or during August

From the cells of this bee two very remarkable parasites have been reared by the Rev. J. L. Zabriskie, namely Diamorus zabriskii, Cres., and Axima zabriskii, How.

The large carpenter bees, however, do not confine themselves to the stems of plants. Their burrows are so large that they are frequently made in the dead trunks of old trees and commonly in lumber, and even in the joists of buildings. The commonest of the large carpenter bees in this country is Xylocopa virginica. This large black-bodied bee, as big as the biggest bumblebee, but with a flatter and less hairy abdomen, bores symmetrical tunnels into solid wood, choosing in civilized regions fence posts and boards. The burrow is a half-inch in diameter, and runs horizontally across the grain for about the length of the insect's body, and is then turned downward at right angles and runs with the grain from twelve to eighteen inches. In this boring the bee progresses at the average rate of about half an inch a day, occupying at least two days in digging the first portion against the grain of the wood. After the burrow is once commenced, their persistence in returning to continue the work, in spite of all obstacles, is very remarkable. One of these indefatigable bees once started a burrow in a lintel over the front door of the writer's house in Georgetown. She was repeatedly driven away, was struck with a broom a number of times, and finally ceased from her labors only because kerosene was squirted at her through a syringe with accurate aim. It was the hand of death alone which released her from her work.

The tunnels generally run in opposite directions from the opening, and sometimes other galleries are made, one parallel with the other, using a common opening.

While we may admire the industry of the carpenter bee in doing all this hard work for its young, it is not averse to an easy thing, and will use the same burrow over again, and if an old deserted burrow can be found which was made the previous summer, or even several years previously, it is preferred to the drudgery of making a new one. Moreover, there are other bees which will pre-empt the deserted burrows of the carpenter bees.