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On the head of the semi-pupa, i.e., a transition state between the larva and pupa, there are two prominent tubercles situated behind the simple eyes, or ocelli; these are deciduous organs, apparently aiding the insect in moving about its cell. They disappear in the mature pupa. Larva of Halictus parallelus. Larva of Andrena vicina.
The larva of Nomada may be known from those of its host, by its slenderer body and smaller head, while the body is smoother and more cylindrical. Both sexes of Nomada imbricata and N. pulchella were found by Mr. Emerton, the former in both the Andrena and Halictus nests, and both were found in a single Andrena nest.
Emerton's observations we should judge that the pupa state lasted from three to four weeks, as the larvæ began to transform the first of August, and appeared during the last week of the same month as perfect bees. The Andrena is seen as late as the first week in September, and again early in April, about the flowers of the willow. It is one of the largest of its genus and a common species.
Quite early in spring, when the sun and vernal breezes have dried up the soil, and the fields exchange their rusty hues for the rich green verdure of May, our Andrena, tired of its idle life among the blossoms of the willow, the wild cherry, and garden flowers, suddenly becomes remarkably industrious, and wields its spade-like jaws and busy feet with a strange and unwonted energy.
When the May Flower "O commendable flowre and most in minde" blooms, and the willows hang out their golden catkins, we shall hear the hum of the wild bee, and the insect hunter will reap a rich harvest of rarities. Seek now on the abdomen of various wild bees, such as Andrena, for that most eccentric of all our insects, the Stylops Childreni.
The presence of this dire foe of Andrena at this time, it will be seen in a succeeding chapter on the enemies of the bees, is quite significant. By the 15th of May, hundreds of Andrena holes were found in various parts of the pasture, and at one place, in a previous season, there were about two hundred found placed within a small area. One cell was dug up, but it contained no pollen.
The curious larvæ of the Oil beetle may be found abundantly on the bodies of various species of Bombus, Andrena and Halictus, with their heads plunged in between the segments of the bee's body. The beautiful moth, Adela, with its immensely long antennæ, may be seen, with other smaller moths, feeding on the blossoms of the willow.
Meanwhile their more lowly relatives, the Andrena and Halictus bees, are engaged in tunnelling the side of some sunny bank or path, running long galleries underground, sometimes for a foot or more, at the farthest end of which are to be found, in summer, little earthen urn-like cells, in which the grubs live upon the pollen stored up for them in little balls of the size of a pea.
When opened, they were found to contain several bees with their young. September 2nd, of this year, the same kind of bee was found in holes, and just ready to leave the cell. It is probable that these bees winter over. We have incidentally noticed the presence in the nests of Andrena and Halictus of a stranger bee, clad in gay, fantastic hues, which lives a parasitic life on its hosts.
The cuckoo bees of the genus Nomada are parasitic on the Andrenidæ, and they resemble either wasps or species of Andrena; and the parasitic humble-bees of the genus Apathus almost exactly resemble the species of humble-bees in whose nests they are reared. Mr.
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