266 INSECT LIFE. 



side of the spray figured here. When the thimble- 

 shaped tube is completed, the bee partially fills it 

 with a paste of pollen and nectar, and then places an 

 egg upon the supply of food. She then cuts several 

 circular pieces of leaves, the diameter of which is a 



Fig. 241. — A leaf-cutter bee, nest, and rose-leaves cut by the bee. 



little greater than the diameter of the tube, and forces 

 them into the open end of it, thus making a tightly 

 fitting plug ; three of these circular pieces had been 

 cut from the spray figured. Usually several cells of 

 this kind are placed end to end in a burrow, and 

 sometimes many bees will build their nests near to- 

 gether in the same piece of wood. 



