62 



Insect Architecture. 



There are species of that versatile genus Osmia 

 (0. leucomelana), in the habit of burrowing into dead bramble 

 branches. The mother insect bores a hole some six inches in 

 length, throwing the pieces of pith away, and then, depositing 

 at the bottom an egg and a supply of food, she forms a 

 cell by fixing across the burrow a stopper made of masticated 

 leaves. 



The stopper retains its place firmly, because the bee does 

 not eat away the whole of the pith, but alternately widens and 

 contracts the diameter of the burrow, each contracted portion 

 being the termination of a cell. The perfect insect appears 

 in the early summer of the following year.] 



CARPENTER- WASPS. 



As there are mason-wasps similar in economy to mason- 

 bees, so are there solitary carpenter-wasps which dig galleries 

 in timber, and partition them out into several cells by means 



A B represent sections of old wooden posts, with the cells of the Carpenter- Wasp. In 

 fig. A the young grubs are shown feeding on the insects placed there tor their support 

 by the parent wasp. The cells in fig. B contain cocoons. C, Carpenter- Wasp, natural 

 size. D, cocoon of a Carpenter-Wasp, composed of sawdust and wings of insects. 



of the gnawings of the wood which they have detached. This 

 sort of wasp is of the genus Eumenes. The wood selected is 

 generally such as is soft, or in a state of decay ; and the hole 

 which is dug in it is much less neat and regular than that of 



