Insect Study 



439 



3. Have you ever seen the little black bee carrying pieces of rose 

 leaves between her front feet? With what instrument do you suppose she 

 cut the leaves? Where do you think she was going? 



4. Have you ever found the nest of the leaf -cutter bee? Was it in a 

 tunnel made in dead wood or in some crack or cranny ? How many of the 

 little rose leaf cups are there in it? How are the cups placed? Are the 

 little bees still in the cups or can you see the holes through which they 

 crawled out? 



5. Take one cup and study it carefully. How are the pieces of 

 leaves folded to make the cups ? How is the lid put on ? Soak the cup in 

 water until it comes apart easily. Describe how many of the long pieces 

 were used and how they were bent to make a cup. Of how many thick- 

 nesses is the cover made? Are the covers just the same size or a little 

 larger than the top of the cup ? How does the cover fit so tightly ? 



6. If you find the nest in July or early August, examine one of the 

 cups carefully and see what there is in it. Take off the cover without 

 injuring it. What is at the bottom of the nest? Is there an insect 

 within it ? How does it look ? What is it doing ? Of what do you think 

 its food was made ? How and by whom was the food placed in the cup ? 

 Place the nest in a box or jar with mosquito netting over the top, and put 

 it out of doors in a safe and shaded place. Look at it often and see what 

 this insect changes into. 



7. If the mother bee made each little nest cup and put in the bee- 

 bread, and honey for her young, which cup contains the oldest of the 

 family? Which the youngest? How do you think the full-grown bees 

 get out of the cup ? 



8. Do you think that the same species of bee always cuts the same 

 sized holes in a leaf? Is it the same species which cuts the rose leaves and 

 the pansy petals ? 



THE LITTLE CARPENTER-BEE 



Teacher's Story 



AKE a dozen dead twigs from almost any sumac or 

 elder, split them lengthwise, and you will find in at 

 least one or two of them, a little tunnel down the cen- 

 ter where the pith once was. In the month of June 

 or July, this narrow tunnel is made into an insect 

 apartment house, one little creature in each apart- 

 ment, partitioned off from the one above and the one 

 below. The nature of this partition reveals to us 

 whether the occupants are bees or wasps; if it is 

 made of tiny chips, like fine sawdust glued together, a 

 bee made it and there are little bees in the cells ; if it 

 is made of bits of sand or mud glued together, a wasp was the architect 

 and young wasps are the inhabitants. Also, if the food in the cells is 

 pollen paste, it was placed there by a bee; if of paralyzed insects or 

 spiders, a wasp made the nest. 



The little carpenter-bee (Ceratina dupla) is a beautiful creature, 

 scarcely one quarter of an inch in length, with metallic blue body and 



