3006 



THE JOINTED ANIMALS 



play a very curious habit. When retiring to rest they fasten upon a twig or the 

 edge of a leaf with their mandibles, fold their wings, draw up their legs, lay the 

 antennas neatly along their backs, and, having induced a temporary lockjaw, hang 

 securely until the morning, when they loose their hold and hurry off once again to 

 play the parasite on their relatives. Another species figured in the illustration 

 is the hairy-legged bee (Dasypoda hirtipes), which appears on the wing in July, and 

 constructs a nest of about^six cells in sandy ground. The burrow runs obliquely at 

 first, afterward descending perpendicularly. Another well-known type of the 

 family is exemplified by the mason bees, of which one species (Chalicodoma 

 muraria) is represented in the illustration on p. 3007. These insects make their 

 appearance in Europe during May, when the female forthwith sets about construct- 



GROUP OF SOLITARY BEES. 



I, 2. Hairy-legged bee (Dasypoda hirtipes) ; 3, 4. Shenck's earth bee (Andrena schencki) ; 5, 6. Gray-haired earth- 

 bee (Andrena cineraria) ; 7, 8. Brown earth bee (A. fulvicrus) ; 9, 10. Large burrowing bee (Hyltzus grandis). 

 A male and female of each is figured. (All of natural size.) 



ing her nest. This includes not more than ten simple cells, and is attached to old 

 walls or houses; the cells being formed of grains of sand glued together with the 

 saliva of the builder. In 1886 some bees of an allied genus (Osmta) constructed 

 their nests in the locks of a door at Deptford. The cells had completely choked 

 the works of the locks, and in one case a portion of the nest was forced out by the 

 insertion of the key without driving away the bees. As the locks were in pretty 

 constant use, it would appear that all the nests must have been built within a few 

 days. 



The leaf-cutter bees, of which an example (Megachile centimcularis) is figured 

 in the illustration on p. 2999, take their name from lining their nests with cells 

 made from fragments of leaves nipped out by the strong jaws of the insects. 

 These cells may be placed either in the holes of trees, in clefts and crannies of old 



