NOTE ON THE HIBERNATION OF CARPENTER BEES.

OF WASHINGTON. 331

erobius,

and Mr. Ashmead

_replied that the

egg was

^{similar in}

this respect,but the pedicel

was somewhat

shorter.

Mr. Howard

presented thefollowing^:

NOTE ON THE HIBERNATION OF CARPENTER BEES.

BY

L.

O. HOWARD.

[Author's Abstract.,]

Mr. Howard

exhibiteda pine branch

burrowed by Xylocopa

virginica

and

_containing

two

_specimens of the bee, a

male and

female. This

burrow was

_broughtto

him

in February, ^at

which

time the

male was

_{living, although} thefemale

was

already dead.

A number

of additional living bees

were

in the

burrow when

found but

were

lostbefore they reached the speaker.

He

stated thathe had not been able to find

any

published ^{statementto the}

effect thatthe males winter _over,

and

thathe

had

always assumed, although withoutobservation, that, as with the

Bombi,

_only

im

pregnated females hibernated.

The

_{finding of}this living

male

in

February shows

^{that the}

male

sex does hibernate. This_partic ular specimen

was

_kept alive in a "

queen cage"

^{until the endof} April,

when

^itdied.

Prof. Riley ^{said that} the question of the hibernation of both sexesdoes not

seem

to have been broached, but

saw

no reason

why

both should not hibernate.

Mr. Ashmead

_{reported having}

takenboth sexes in early spring about flowers.

Mr. Hubbard

stated thattheCarpenter^{bees are} extremely

abundant

at Crescent City, Florida,

and

thatat that latitude

no

hibernation occurs, the breeding continuing almost without intermission the year^round.

He had

observed

them

_throughoutthe winter, during

which

sea son_they

were

excessively injurious^to

woodwork,

_{porches,fences,} window-sashes, etc., the adultsbeing very

abundant

_during the

months

^of

November

^to _January.

He had

foundin

February

^the eggs and^theyoung,ⁱⁿvarious stages ofdevelopment,ⁱⁿburrows,

and

in

March

the adult bees ready ^{to issue}

from

the burrows.

By

April

most

of these

had

_escaped,

and

another_generation de veloped during ^the

summer. He

described the egg^{of the}

Car

penterbee asthe_{largest, finest,}

and most

beautiful of any ^insect

egg

^he

had

ever seen.

He

described ^it asa quarter of an inch inlength,and_perfectlytransparent, revealing the

embryonic

^larva