408 TENANTS OF AN OLD FARM 



between her hiud legs aud flies away to her hole. Here 

 is a figure representing leaf-cutter bees engaged upon 

 a rose-bush, and beneath them are samples of the 

 cylindrical nests which they construct." (Fig. 128.) 



" How long does it take a bee to cut out one of these 

 pieces ?" asked Penn Townes. 



" One individual whose movements were timed, cut, 

 carried ten yards to her nest, fixed the leaf in its place, 

 and returned to the rose-bush on which she was work- 

 ing, at intervals of from half a minute to a minute, 

 and kept this up during an entire morning." 



"Pretty rapid work that !" 



" Yes, and you will appreciate it more highly when 

 I shall have told you how she disposes of the leaves. 

 If yon turn to our figure (128) you will notice first 

 that the leaves have been used to line the inner surface 

 of the hole, and that they form a tube not quite three 

 inches long, which consists of several 'joints,' as I may 

 call them. If you will examine the joints you will 

 perceive that each is made up of three or four pieces, 

 and that the serrated edge, or natural selvage of the 

 leaf, as the ladies might say, is invariably placed on 

 the outside, while the cut mai'gin is put innermost. 

 Do yon observe these points ?" 



" Yes, we all see." 



"Here is another fact, if I am not much mistaken," 

 said Hugh. He had been examining the nest carefully, 

 and, as it proved, witli a true mcchanic;\l eye. "If 

 you take purticklcr notice, sir, you'll see that in 

 formin' uv these jints the bee has been careful not 



