CARPENTEK-BEES. 



41 



provided with adequate food. She knows, most exactly, 

 the quantity of food which each gmb will require during 

 its growth ; and she therefore does not hesitate to cut it off 

 from any additional supply. In constructing her cells, she 

 does not employ clay, like the bee which we have men- 

 tioned above, but the sawdust, if we may call it so, which 



A represents a part of an espalier prop, tunnelled in several places by the violet 

 carpenter-bee : the stick is split, and shows the nests and passages by which they are 

 approached. B, a portion of tlie prop, half the natural size. C, a piece of tliin stick, 

 pierced by the carpenter-bee, and split, to show the nests. D, Perspective view of one 

 of the partitions. E, Carpenter-bee {Xylocopa violacea). F, Teeth of the carpenter-bee. 

 greatly inagnitied ; a, the upper side ; b, the lower side. 



she has collected in gnawing out the gallery. It would 

 not, therefore, have suited her design to scatter this about, 

 as our carpenter-bee did. The violet-bee, on the contraiy, 

 collects her giiawings into a little store-heap for future use, 

 at a short distance from her nest. She proceeds thus : — ■ 



