BEES OF GREAT BRITAIN. 159 



the egg is deposited on the food immediately before closing up 

 the cell ; it is white, oblong, and about the size and shape of a 

 caraway-seed: the larva is hatched in about eight days, and 

 feeds about ten or twelve, when it is full-grown ; it then spins 

 a thin silken covering, and remains in an inactive state until 

 the following spring, when it undergoes its transformations, 

 and appears usually in the month of June. 



Osmia hirta burrows in wood, seldom in any other mate- 

 rial;, the same habit will be observed in Osmia amea; but 

 I have observed this bee more than once constructing its 

 burrow in the mortar of walls, and sometimes in hard sand- 

 banks. Osmia aurulenta and 0. bicolor are bees which com- 

 monly burrow in banks, the latter being very abundant in some 

 situations, forming colonies ; but although it appears to be the 

 natural habit of these species to construct tunnels in hard 

 banks, with great labour and untiring perseverance, still we find 

 them at times exhibiting an amount of sagacity, and a degree of 

 knowledge, that at once dispels the idea of their actions being 

 the result of a mere blind instinct, impelling them in one unde- 

 viatiug course. A moment's consideration will suffice to call to 

 mind many tunnels and tubes ready-formed, which would appear 

 to be admirably adapted for the purposes of the bee for in- 

 stance, the straws of a thatch, and many reeds ; and what could 

 be more admirably adapted to their requirements than the tubes 

 of many shells ? So thinks the bee ! 0. aurulenta and 0. bi- 

 color both select the shells of Helix hortensis and H. nemoralis : 

 the shells of these snails are of course very abundant, and lie 

 half hidden beneath grass, mosses, and plants ; the bees find- 

 ing them in such situations, dispense with their accustomed 

 labour and take possession of the deserted shells. The number 

 of cells varies according to the length of the whorl of the shell 

 selected, the usual number being four, but in some instances 

 they construct five or six, commencing at the end of the whorl ; 

 a suitable supply of pollen and honey is collected, an egg de- 

 posited, and a partition formed of abraded vegetable matter ; 

 the process is repeated until the requisite number is formed, 

 when the whole is most carefully protected by closing up the 

 entrance with small pellets of clay, sticks and pebbles ; these are 

 firmly cemented together with some glutinous matter, and the 

 bee has finished her task. 



We will now observe the intelligence of the bee under different 

 circumstances : she has selected the adult shell of Helix aspersa ; 

 the whorl of this species is much larger in diameter than that 

 of H. nemoralis or H. hortensis too wide, in fact, for a single 

 cell ; our little architect, never at a loss, readily adapts it to 

 her purpose by forming two cells side by side, and as she ad- 



