31® / INSECT S. 



or four apartments : in each they lay eggs, to the number of ten or twelve, 

 each feparate and diftind: ; the egg is involved in a fort of parte, at once 

 the young animaPs protection and nourifiiment. The grown bees feed 

 on fmall inre(5ls, particularly 4 very fmailloufc, of a redd ilh brown colour, 



Mason-Bees make their cells with a fort of mortar, made of earth ; 

 they build againft a wall eKpofe<i to the fun. The iportar, which at firft 

 is foftj foon becomes as hard as ftqine, and in this their eggs are laid. 

 Each neft contains feven or eight cells, an egg in every cell, placed re- 

 gularly one over the other. If the iicft remains unhurt, or wants but lit- 

 tle repairs, they ufe it the year cnfuing; znd often three or four years, 

 A worm with very ftrong teeth is often found to fc>pre into their little for- 

 tifications, and devour their young. 



The Ground-Bee builds in the earth, in round holes, five or fix inches 

 ^eep; the mouth narrow, juft fufficient to admit the little inhabitant. 

 They carry out all ihe earth, grain by grain, to the mourb of the hole, 

 where it forms a little hillock. Sometimes the walks of a garden are un- 

 dermined by their labours; fome of the holes ninningdireftly downward, 

 others horizontally beneath the furface. They Jay up in thefe cavities 

 provifions for their young, which confift of a pafte that has the appear- 

 ance of corn, and is fweetilli. 



Leaf cuttinq-Bees make their neft and lay their eggs among bits of 

 leaves very artificially placed in holes in the earth, of about the length 

 of a tooth- pick cafe. They make the bits of leaves roundiOi, and with 

 them line the inlide of their habitations. This is further lined by a 

 reddilh kind of pafte, fomewhat fweet or acid, Thefe bees are of va- 

 rious kinds J thofe that build their ncfts with cheflnut-kaves are as big as 

 , drones, but thofe of the rofe-tree are fmaller than the common bee. 



Wall-Bees make their nefts in walls, of a kind of filky membrane, 

 with which they fill up the vacuities between the fmall ftoncs which form 

 the fides of their habitation. Their apartment confills of fevcral cells, 

 placed end to end, each in the ihape of a thimble. The web which lines 

 this habitation is thick, warm, tranfparent, and whitifh, fuppofed to 

 be fpun from the animaTs body; the males and females are of a fize, 

 but the former are without a fting. 



To thefe varieties of tlie bee kind rpight be added feveral others, which^ 

 though different, ar(? npt fufiicicntly dillinguifli«id for partigu.Ur notice. 



THE 



