SOLITARY BEES AND WASPS. i?5 



entrance. In this way it works till the hole 

 is full of cells, then finally closes it up and 

 leaves the nursery to manage for itself. The 

 leaves of the birch-tree, elm, and dog's mercury 

 are used by other species, but they all choose 

 some kind of leaf to line their nests. 



ANTHIDIUM. 

 (A DWELLER IN FLOWERS.) 



This is another pretty bee which chooses a 

 hole in some tree-stem which has been made 

 already by a beetle or boring insect, and in order 

 to make things quite comfortable for her future 

 family she goes to the woolly hedge-nettle or 

 the wild lychnis, and scraping off the wool she 

 rolls it into a ball and flies to her nest with it, 

 then she unrolls the wool and lines the sides of 

 the hole with it, thus making a warm soft nest 

 in which to place her eggs and the store of pollen 

 and honey which they will require. 



