BEES AND WASPS SPECIAL HABITS. 179 



cording to circumstances, possesses itself of old nests, 

 cleanses and improves them, and thereby shows that it can 

 fully appreciate the immediate position ? Can one believe 

 that no kind of reflection is here necessary ? ' 



The Tapestry-Bee. The so-called tapestry-bee digs 

 holes for her larvae three or four inches deep in the earth. 

 and lines the walls and floor of the chamber with petals of 

 the poppy laid perfectly smooth. Several layers of petals 

 are used, and when the eggs are introduced the chamber 

 is closed by drawing all the leaves together at the top. 

 Loose earth is then piled over the whole structure in order 

 to conceal it. The so-called rose-bee (Megachile centun- 

 cularis) displays very similar habits. 1 



The Carpenter-Bee. This was first observed and de- 

 scribed by Eeaumur. 2 It makes a long cylindrical tube in 

 the wood of beams, palings, &c. This it divides into a 

 number of successive chambers by partitions made of 

 agglutinated saw-dust built across the tube at right 

 angles to its axis. In each chamber there is deposited a 

 single egg, together with a store of pollen for the nourish- 

 ment of the future larva. The larvae hatch out in suc- 

 cession and in the order of their age i.e. the dates at 

 which they were deposited. To provide for this, the bee 

 bores a hole from the lower cell to the exterior, so that 

 each larva, when ready to escape from its chamber, finds 

 an open way from the tube. The larvae have to cut their 

 own way out through the walls of their respective chambers, 

 and it is remarkable that they always cut through the wall 

 that faces the tubular passage left by the parent ; they 

 never bore their way out in the opposite direction, which, 

 were they to do so, would entail the destruction of all the 

 other and immature larvae. 



The Carding-Bee. This insect surrounds its nest 

 with a layer of wax, and then with a thick covering of 

 moss. For this purpose a number of bees co-operate, 

 and in order to save time each bee does not find and carry 

 its own moss, but, with a division of labour similar to that 



1 For a complete account of these habits see Bingley, Animal 

 Biography, vol. iii.. pp. 272-5. 



* Mem. sur Ics Inscctes, tcm. vi., p. 39. 



