MINING-BEES, 



43 



Mason-Bee and Nest— Fvom. Reaumur. 



Mining-Bees. 



A very small sort of bees {JlndrencB)^ many of 

 them not larger than a house-fly, dig in the ground 

 tubular galleries little wider than the diameter of 

 their own bodies. Samouelle says, that all of them 

 seem to prefer a southern aspect ; but we have found 

 them in banks facing the east, and even the north. 

 Immediately above the spot where we have described 

 the mason-bees quarrying the clay, we observed seve- 

 ral holes, about the diameter of the stalk of a to- 

 bacco-pipe, into which those little bees were seen 

 passing. The clay here was very hard; and on 

 passing a straw into the hole as a director, and digging 

 down for six or eight inches, a very smooth circular 

 gallery was found, terminating in a thimble-shaped 

 horizontal chamber, almost at right angles to the 

 entrance, and nearly twice as wide. In this chamber 



Cell of Mining-Bee (Andrcnn), — About half the natural size. 



