INSECT-ARCHITECTURE. 



187 



stores in each, cell a mass of pollen, on which an egg is 

 placed, for the food of the young grub. 



Carpenter-bees are well named, as with their strong jaws 



FIB. 235. Leaf-cutter bee and nest. 



they bore perfectly regular holes in pine boards, as straight 

 as if made with an auger. The tunnel is sometimes made 

 from 12 to 18 inches in length, and about half an inch 

 in diameter, so as to readilv admit the bee. The industri- 



x ij 



ous little carpenter, working as rapidly as she can, excavates 

 her holes (in pine wood) at the rate of about a quarter of an 

 inch a day. Mr. Angus says: " If I mistake not, it takes 

 her about two days to make her own length at the first 

 start; but this being across the grain of the wood may not 

 be so easily done as the remainder, which runs parallel with 

 it. She always follows the grain of the wood, with the ex- 

 ception of the entrance, which is about her own length." 



