182 HABITATIONS OF ANIMALS. 



are not confined to one cell. It often pierces through each 

 cell in the nest, and successively devours both the mason- 

 worms and the provisions so anxiously laid up for their sup- 

 port by the mother. This stranger worm is afterwards trans- 

 formed into a fine beetle, who is enabled to pierce the nest, 

 and to make his escape. 



The operations of another species of solitary bees, called 

 wood-piercers, merit attention. These bees are larger than 

 the queens of the honey-bee. Their bodies are smooth, ex- 

 cept the sides, which are covered with hair. In the spring, 

 they frequent gardens, and search for rotten, or at least dead 

 wood, in order to make a habitation for their young. When 

 a female of this species for she receives no assistance from 

 the male has selected a piece of wood, or a decayed tree, 

 she commences her labor by making a hole in it, which is 

 generally directed toward the axis of the tree. When she 

 has advanced about half an inch, she alters the direction of 

 the hole, and conducts it nearly parallel to the axis of the 

 wood. The size of her body requires that this hole should 

 have a considerable diameter. It is often so large as to admit 

 the finger of a man, and it sometimes extends from twelve to 

 fifteen inches in length. If the thickness of the wood permits, 

 she makes three or four of these long holes in its interior part. 

 M. de Reaumur found three of these parallel holes in an old 

 espalier post. Their diameters exceeded half an inch. This 

 labor, for a single bee, is prodigious ; but in executing it, she 

 consumes weeks, and even months. 



Around the foot of a post or piece of wood where one of 

 these bees is working, little heaps of timber-dust are always 

 found lying on the ground. These heaps daily increase in 

 magnitude, and the particles of dust are as large as those 

 produced by a handsaw. The two teeth with which the ani- 

 mal is provided, are the only instruments she employs in 

 making such considerable perforations. Each tooth consists 

 of a solid piece of shell, which in shape resembles an auger. 

 It is convex 'above, concave below, and terminates in a sharp 

 but strong point. 



These long holes are designed for lodgings to the worms 

 that are to proceed from the eggs, which the bee is soon to 

 deposit in them. But after the holes are finished, her labor 

 is by no means at an end. The eggs must not be mingled, 

 or piled above each other. Every separate worm must have 

 a distinct apartment, without any communication with the 

 others. Each long hole or tube, accordingly, is only the 



