Crossword-Solution: ANDRENA 7 letters, 1 clue 🏆 scrabble score: 8

Hermann Muller also saw a small bee, an Andrena, which could not reach the nectar, repeatedly inserting its proboscis beneath the stigma, where the papillae are situated; so that these papillae must be in some way attractive to insects.

The little flowers, which open without method anywhere on the spike they choose, attract many insects, the smaller bees (_Andrena_) conspicuous among the host.

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.

They construct their cells in the stems of plants, and in rotten posts and trees, or, like Andrena, they burrow in sunny banks.

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.