320 



HALF HOURS WITH INSECTS. [Packard. 



Fig. 250. 



Fig. 249. 



syringa stem containing the cells of this bee, separated at 



regnlar intervals by little parchment partitions, tlie spaces 



between them being filled with dirt. 



The cells are filled by the parent bee 



with pollen, a store of food for the 



grub; 



A great step in advance is the home 

 of the carpenter bee (Fig. 

 250), which is bored in 

 solid pine wood or even 

 hard wood, sometimes for 

 a foot or more. The work 

 is done by the jaws of the 

 bee, and the hole is bored 

 as evenly as by an anger. 

 After boring the hole, it 

 is partitioned off by chip 

 walls, a pellet of pollen 

 on which the larva feeds 

 having been previously 

 placed in each coll. Here 

 is a specimen of mechani- 

 cal ingenuity and architec- 

 tural skill which is cer- 

 tainly surprising, and in- 

 dicates some forethought 

 Nest of and a certain degree of 



Ceratina. . 



reasoning power. 

 In the succeeding chapter the nests 

 of the social wasps and bees will be 

 noticed, as the high degree of archi- Nest of Carpenter Bee. 

 tectural skill shown by these insects is intimately related 

 with the complex economy of the colony. 



32 



