174 SOLITARY BEES AND WASPS. 



let it go. I found it was the very interesting 

 solitary bee which lines its nest with rose-leaves 

 (Megachile Centuncularis). It is a rather hand- 

 some large insect, covered with brownish-yellow 

 down, and has furry-looking legs. 



It is called sometimes the upholsterer-bee, 

 because it uses such delicate curtains for its nest. 

 I used to think it was the pink rose-petals that 

 it used, but I have since found out more about 

 its ways, and often see where it has been at 

 work on my rose-trees by the circular holes it 

 makes in the green leaves. It settles on the 

 edge of a rose-leaf, and holding it firmly between 

 its fore- legs it saws out a round piece of it, 

 then flies with it to its nest and puts it neatly 

 in as a lining. It takes from nine to twelve pieces 

 to form a cell, and they are pieced together 

 without any cement or glue so that, as they dry, 

 they form a neat little tunnel. In this the bee 

 stores up the honey and pollen of thistles which 

 form, when mixed together, a sort of rose-coloured 

 conserve or jam, and then in this it lays its 

 egg and closes up the end of the cell with three 

 pieces of leaf exactly joined so as to fill up the 



