48 INSECT ARCHITECTUKE. 



\^dtlim, like tlie desolate palaces of Venice. She covers 

 her tapestry quite round with the common earth; and 

 leaves her eggs enclosed in their poppy-case with a cer- 

 tainty that the outward show of her labours will attract 

 no plunderer. 



The poppy-bee may be known by its being rather 

 more than a third of an inch long, of a black colour, 

 Btudded on the head and back with reddish-grey hairs ; 

 the belly being grey and silky, and the rings margined 

 with grey above, the second and third having an impressed 

 transversal line. 



A species of solitarj^ bee (^Anthidium manicafum, Fabricius), 

 by no means uncommon with us, fonns a nest of a peculiarly 

 interesting structure. Kirby and Spence say, that it does 

 not excavate holes, but makes choice of the cavities of old 

 trees, key -holes, and similar localities ; yet it is highlj^ 

 probable, we think, that it may sometimes scoop out a 

 suitable cavity when it cannot find one ; for its mandibles 

 seem equally capable of this, with those of any of the car- 

 penter- or mason- bees. 



Be this as it may, the bee in question having selected 

 a place suitably sheltered from the weather, and from 

 the intrusion of depredators, proceeds to form her nest, 

 the exterior walls of which she forms of the wool of 

 pubescent plants, such as rose-campion {^Lychiis coronaria), 

 the quince {Pyrus cydonid), cats-ears (Stachys hmafa), &c. 

 *' It is very pleasant," says Mr. AYhite, of Selborne, " to see 

 ^^dth what address this insect strips off the down, lunning 

 from the top to the bottom of the branch, and shaving it 

 bare with all the dexterity of a hoop-shaver. AY hen it has 

 got a vast bundle, almost as large as itself, it flies away, 

 holding it secure between its chin and its fore-legs." * The 

 material is rolled up like a libbon ; and we possess a spe- 

 cimen in which one of these rolls still adheres to a rose- 

 campion stem, the bee having been scared away before 

 obtaining her load. 



* Naturalist's Cakndar. p. 100. 



