3^4 



THE INSECT WORLD. 



The Anthophoras (Figs. -^2)^^ 337, 338) resemble bees, but they 

 are more hairy, and of greyish colour. Their nest, composed of earth 

 tempered and agglutinated with their saliva, is made in the cracks of 

 old walls or in the ground. It has the form of a twisted tube, and is 

 divided, by partitions, into compartments, each of which is to receive 



Fig. 340. — Mason Bee and Nest. 



a larva. Each insect, when hatched, pierces its own wall, and profits 

 by the hole of exit of the brother which preceded it. 



These insects do not live together in societies. Indifferent 

 neighbours, they do not lend each other mutual assistance. They 

 have their parasites, the Meladas^ like the humble bees. These 

 parasites are hairy, blackish insects, spotted with white, laying their 

 eggs in the nests of the Anthophoras^ which permit them to do so, 

 and, at the expense of their own progeny, bring up the intruder's 

 little ones. 



The Carpenter Bee, or Wood-piercer {Xylocopa), hollows out 



t 



