Bees.J 



MUSEUM OF ANIMATED NATURE. 



347 



grubs, and then enclosed itself in a cocoon, as did 

 also the iindevoured wasp-griib, both awaiting the 

 return of summer to emerge perfect insects, and take 

 the place of their parents. Fig. 3447 represents the 

 mason-wasp's nest in question : a, the cocoon of the 

 cuckoo-fly : h. that of the wasp. 



Another species of mason-wasp (Odynerus mura- 

 rius). Fig. 3448, constructs singular burrows in hard 

 sand-banks, to the extent of two or three inches, and 

 that with great rapidity : but this is not all : with the 

 particles detached during the process of excavation, 

 she builds a tower encircling the mouth of the bur- 

 row, but very slightly, as it is only a temporary struc- 

 ture, intended as a pile of materials for finishing the 

 interior of the cell, or, according to Reaumur, to 

 serve as a protection from the attack of the ichneu- 

 mon-fly or her progeny. The wasp stores her cell 

 with living caterpillars, fixed together in a spiral 

 column, as food for the larva, which, after exclusion 

 from the egg, has nothing to do but to eat, from its 

 birth to its transformation. Fig. 3449 shows a group 

 of these nests, about half the natural size : a, the 

 tower of the cell ; b, the entrance after the tower is 

 removed ; c, the cell ; d, the cell, with a roll of ca- 

 terpillars prepared for the larvae. 



Not less remarkable are the solitary mason-bees 

 with respect to the cells they prepare for the recep- 

 tion of the eggs, the materials of which vary in the 

 different species. One species,the Anthophora retusa 

 (Fig. 3450), has been observed to build its cells of 

 lime and coarse sand, in the fissure of brick-work or 

 other convenient places. One of these structures 

 was observed, by Mr. Rennie, in Greenwich Park : 

 externally there appeared an irregular cake of mud, 

 as if a portion of -road-stufF had been plastered on 

 the wall : in this was a circular hole, leading to a 

 cell, then empty ; but, on removing the cake of 

 mud, another cell was found, and in it a living bee, 

 just emerged from the pupa state, and ready to 

 escape. Fig. 345 1 shows the cake of mud, inter- 

 spersed w ith minute pebbles ; Fig. 3452, the cells 

 of this species, one-third the natural size. Another 

 species, the Megachile muraria, a native of the 

 Continent, constructs cells of fine sand, kneaded 

 with their mandibles into a sort of mortar by means 

 of a glutinous saliva, and not unmixed with garden- 

 mould. Another mason-bee, the Osmia bicornis, 

 kneads up clay, tempering it to a proper consistence, 

 with which to construct her egg-cells. Fig. 3453 

 represents, A and B, the cells of Osmia bicornis, be- 

 tween bricks ; and C, those of Megachile muraria, 

 in the fluting of an old pilaster; about half the na- 

 tural size. Reaumur describes another kind of mason- 

 bee, which selects a small cavity in a stone, in which 

 she forms her nest of garden-mould, covering it up 

 with mortar of the same material (see Fig. 3454). 

 These bees place in their cells balls of pollen for 

 the nutriment of the grub when hatched. 



We may here notice the little solitary mining- 

 bees, which bore pits in sunny banks, to the depth 

 of six or eight inches, terminating m a little cham- 

 ber almost at right angles with the entrance. Both 

 the tubular pit and chamber are very smooth, and in 

 the chamber is deposited an csg, witha ball of pollen 

 for the grub : one of these chambers is represented 

 at Fig. 3455. We may here observe, that in all these 

 instances the female is the labourer — there is no 

 special community of workers— and the males are 

 idle. Another group of solitary bees are termed 

 carpenter-bees, from the circumstance of their work- 

 ing in wood, especially such as is softened by expo- 

 sure to weather, and consequently posts, palings, 

 and outdoor woodwork are the ordinary objects of 

 their selection. They not only bore galleries in the 

 wood, but avail themselves of any suitable hole or 

 crevice, and often take possession of old nests and 

 repair them. The labour of excavation is under- 

 taken solely by the female ; and, as in the case of 

 the mason-wasp, she carefully removes to a distance 

 all the chips which have been chiselled oft' by her 

 homy jaws. When, by dint of unremitting industry, 

 she has sunk a shaft of sufficient depth, she depo- 

 sits at the bottom an egg and a ball of pollen ; and 

 then, having prepared some clay, she forms a parti- 

 tion above, at a proper distance, and on this depo- 

 sits another egg and ball of pollen — making another 

 partition with clay, and so on till the shaft or tunnel 

 IS divided into six or eight compartments, each with 

 its egg and pollen for the future grub : the task 

 being at length completed, she covers the external 

 entrance, and so blocks all safely in. The wood is 

 Dot lined with any material, but is worked quite 

 smooth and even. Fig. 3455 represents, A and B, a 

 section of the cells of the carpenter-bee, the former 

 with larvu;, the latter empty. 



Rdaumnr describes a species, the violet carpenter- 

 bee (Xylocopa violacea), a native of the Continent, 

 but not of our island, which, he says, usually selects 

 upright posts or pieces of wood for its cells. It first 

 bores obliquely for about an inch, and then, chang- 

 ing the hne of direction, works perpendicularly to 

 the depth of twelve or fifteen inches ; the tunnel or 

 •haft being half an inch in diameter. Sometimes a 

 VouII 



single bee makes three or four of these galleries — a 

 task requiring several weeks of incessant labour. 

 This part of the work effected, she deposits her eggs, 

 each in a separate cell, one cell above another, 

 placing with each a store of pollen mixed with ho- 

 ney for the use of the future larva ; and the quantity, 

 by the unerring teaching of instinct, is duly propor- 

 tioned to its wants. The partitions of the cells, or 

 stories, are not formed of clay or earth, but of the 

 saw-dust which has resulted from her previous ope- 

 rations, and which, instead of throwing away, she 

 collected into a store-heap for use, at a short dis- 

 tance from the habitation upon which she was at 

 work ; this she kneads up with her mandibles into 

 a sort of paste, and applying it, bit by bit, to the 

 wall of the tunnel, forms a ring, to which she keeps 

 adding till a circular plate is produced about the 

 thickness of a half-crown piece, and of considerable 

 hardness. When examined, this plate is found to 

 consist of concentric circles, as in the transverse 

 section of the bole of a tree — the result of her annu- 

 lar mode of filling up from the circumference to the 

 centre of the plate. As the whole of this process 

 occupies several weeks, and as the first eggs depo- 

 sited will necessarily be hatched before the others, 

 and the last transformation from the pupa to the 

 perfect insect also first effected, the bee provides 

 against this contingency; and, in order that her 

 offspring may not suffer unnecessary imprisonment, 

 she makes a lateral opening at the bottom of these 

 lowest chambers, barricading them with sawdust- 

 paste, which the mandibles of the young bees are 

 capable of breaking up, though as yet unequal to 

 the task of gnawing the more solid wood itself. 



It is impossible, in contemplating the labours of 

 these insect architects, not to be struck with the 

 proofs of wonderful instinct which they display. 

 The natural instruments for carrying on the im- 

 pulses of that instinct are in just accordance — ^the 

 knowledge of the plan to be pursued is innate — and 

 hence, without a pattern and without previous ex- 

 perience, the bee effects her purpose, and fulfils the 

 task to which a mysterious principle impels her, 

 and in the performance of which she was, by the 

 same principle, unconsciously guided. 



Fig. 3456 represents, A, part of a post tunnelled 

 in several places by the violet carpenter-bee ; the 

 wood is split, and shows the cells and passages by 

 which they are approached ; B, a portion of the 

 post, half the natural size ; C, a piece of thin stick 

 bored by the carpenter-bee, and split to show the 

 nests ; D, one of the partition plates, showing its 

 concentric rings; E, the carpenter-bee (Xylocopa 

 violacea) ; F, mandibles of the carpenter-bee, greatly 

 magnified — a, the upper side ; 6, the lower side. 



There are solitary carpenter-wasps (Eumenes) as 

 well as carpenter-bees, which bore deep excava- 

 tions, or rather mines, in soft or decaying timbers, 

 but with much less regularity and neatness than the 

 latter. The partitions are formed by the sawdust 

 produced during the boring process, but are com- 

 paratively irregular, and the whole has a more dis- 

 orderly appearance. The provision stored up with 

 the eggs lor the larvae consists of flies and gnats 

 huddled in a heap together ; and it is remarkable 

 that when the larvaa spin a cocoon, in which to 

 assume the pupa condition, they interweave with 

 the silk sawdust and the wings of the insects whose 

 bodies they have devoured. 



Fig. 3457 represents, A and B, sections of old 

 wooden posts with the cells of the carpenter-wasp. 

 In A the young are feeding on their insect stores ; 

 in B the cells contain cocoons; C, a carpenter-wasp, 

 of the natural size ; D, the cocoon of the pupa of a 

 carpenter-wasp, in which sawdust and the wings of 

 insects are mingled with the silk. 



There is a group of solitary bees called by some 

 naturalists "upholsterers, or leaf-cutting bees," 

 which line their egg-cells with portions of the leaves 

 of shrubs or the petals of flowers, or the down of 

 plants of trees. One species, the poppy-bee (Osmia 

 papaveris), selects the delicate petals of the scarlet 

 poppy as tapestry for her cells. This bee makes a 

 cell of about three inches deep, and in shape like a 

 Florence flask, in banks of firm earth or trodden 

 pathways; and, this accomplished, she makes her 

 way to the scarlet poppies, so common in our corn- 

 fields : delicate as are the petals, which it is almost 

 impossible to lay down smoothly and without wrin- 

 kling upon the most nicely glazed paper, yet she 

 manages to cut oft' small portions of an oval shape, 

 which she carries between her legs to her cell, and 

 most neatly and accurately spreads over the bottom, 

 where she commences by arranging three or four 

 layers of this brilliant material ; she then lines the 

 sides with two or three layers, which are earned up 

 quite to the external entrance. Having thus hung 

 her cell with scarlet tapestry, she next fills it to the 

 depth of half an inch with the pollen of flowers 

 mixed with honey, and on this store of provision 

 for the future larva she carefully deposits an egg ; 

 over this she folds down the scarlet tapestry of 

 poppy-petals, so as to embower the egg, and then 



fills up the entrance and narrow tunnel leading to 

 tlie cell with earth, and leaves it concealed from 

 the eye of every prying enemy. 



Another species, the Anthidium manicatum, 

 which is said seldom or never to excavate a cell 

 herself, but to appropriate any cavity or hole in 

 timber or decayed trees suitable to her purpose, 

 lines the selected chamber with down — this she 

 assiduously collects from various plants, as the rose 

 campion, the quince, the cat's-ear, &c., stripping a 

 leaf or branch, or rather, as White of Selborne says, 

 shaving it bare, with the utmost address. When 

 she has obtained a bundle of this down almost 

 equalling her 'oody in bulk, away she flies with it to 

 her nest, holding it securely between the fore limbs 

 and the chin. This bundle is not a loose mass, but 

 a roll of compacted or felted down, in the. form of a 

 riband; and it is with this that the cells are 

 formed, and, according to Latreille, she deposits in 

 them her eggs and a store of paste made of pollen 

 and honey. It appears that the down is also 

 smeared with pollen and honey on the inside, per- 

 haps to keep it in form. There are, however, some 

 pomts in the structure of these cells not well un- 

 derstood. 



Another species, common in Europe generally, 

 called the Rose-leaf cutter (Megachile centuncu- 

 laris), has been long celebrated for its ingenious 

 habits. She makes a burrow in the earth, generally 

 selecting a pathway or some spot where the ground 

 is solid, sometimes in decayed wood, to the depth 

 of six or ten inches. In this she constructs a series 

 of cells made generally with portions of the leaves 

 of the rose-tree, which she cuts out on purpose, and 

 secures together. The cells are in form like thim- 

 bles, and the bottom of each is inserted into the 

 mouth of the other in regular succession. Though 

 the leaf of the rose-tree is most in request, still that 

 of the mountain ash and other trees is not rejected : 

 but from whatever she takes her materials, her 

 method is the same ; clinging to the lower edge of 

 the leaf, which she holds between her limbs, she 

 neatly cuts out a circular piece with her mandibles, 

 keeping, as she proceeds, the cut portion between 

 her legs, so as not to impede her in her progress, 

 and at the same time clinging to it. As soon as 

 she has cut so far that her weight might tear off the 

 piece, she poises herself on her wings, completes the 

 separation, and flies off to her gallery. During her 

 flight she holds this portion of leaf in a bent posi- 

 tion, perpendicular to her body, and arriving home 

 fits it to the interior of the excavation, without glue 

 or paste, trusting to the elasticity which the leaf 

 acquires in drying to retain its position. Each cell 

 is made up often or twelve of these pieces, and the 

 serrated edge of the leaf is always placed undermost. 

 In spreading the layers no joining is placed opposite 

 to a joining, but the piece is so bent and applied, 

 that its centre is opposite the joining of two others, 

 which it thus strengthens and secures. In the cell, 

 thus composed of bent layers, is deposited a store of 

 honey and pollen, which, being chiefly obtained from 

 the flowers of the thistle, is of a beautiful roseate 

 tint. On this she deposits an egg, and covers in 

 the opening with three pieces of leaf, forming a 

 circle as true as if lined out by a pair of compasses. 

 Another cell is now added, and replenished in the 

 same way, and so on till the gallery is filled, when 

 the entrance is stopped up and all left in security. 

 When, during her operations, any accident may have 

 deranged the structure or progress, this industrious 

 bee sets to work to restore all to rights, persevering 

 with the utmost patience till her aim is accom- 

 plished. Fig. 3458 exhibits some rose-leaves cut by 

 this bee ; two bees at work ; and a gallery laid open, 

 exposing the thimble-shaped nests, one fitted into 

 another. 



Such, then are the varied and ingenious modes 

 adopted by these solitary bees and wasps for the 

 concealment and protection of their eggs and future 

 larvae. Hereafter we shall have to notice the pro- 

 ceedings of other wasps and bees, which have been 

 from ancient days regarded with the highest in- 

 terest, and in modern days studied by the most 

 celebrated philosophers. 



Let us, however, now advance to some other in- 

 sects, and observe the mode in which they secure 

 their eggs and provide for the larvae. 



It may appear to be a strange thing that the 

 female should perish in the necessary task of secur- 

 ing the eggs she has deposited ; but this occurs in 

 the case of many of the Coccidoo, or Gallinsecta of 

 Latreille, and especially in the Lac Insect (Coccus 

 laccsi), from which the valuable product called lac 

 is obtained, and for which it is reared in plantations 

 of a peculiar kind of fig, as the Ficus religiosa and 

 the Ficus Indica; it feeds also upon the Buteafron- 

 dosa and Rhamnus Jujuba. It covers the trees in 

 countless myriads, but all are soon destined to perish. 

 When the females, according to the statement of 

 Kirby and Spence, " have fixed themselves to a part 

 of the branch of the trees on which they feed, a 

 pellucid and glutinous substance begins to exude 



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