Wild Bees

Abstract

A FEW words respecting a colony of wild bees (a species of Andrena) which I have just discovered in our garden, may interest your entomological readers. A day or two ago, on walking beside a low-turfed mound which supports two trees on one of our towns, I noticed that the grassy surface on the south—therefore the sunny—side was covered with little hillocks of earth, such as ants throw up after rain. On examination each little heap showed the circular hole which denotes a bee's nest, and the bees themselves were seen in many places going in and out. Some holes were level with the ground, but most had the tiny mound of soil cast up in the process of excavation. The peculiarity of the case seems to me to lie in the great number of nests forming a complete colony. It is difficult to count them, but there cannot be less than eighty or ninety in an area—roughly calculated—of about sixty square feet. Have any of your readers noticed a similar city of these busy people? and. can any one supply the specific name?