370 



THE INSECT WOELD. 



they require with their mandibles, the notches being wonderfully 

 cleanly cut, as if they had been done with a punch. 



They make as many as eight or ten envelopes in succession with 

 the leaves, which, as they get dry, contract, keeping, however, the 



Fig. 342. Eose Megachile (AL-r, 



form given to them by the insect. The cells destined to receive 

 the eggs acquire thus a certain solidity. Fig. 342 represents the 

 nest of the Megachile. 



The Upholsterer bees (Autkocopas) line their nests with the petals 

 of flowers, as, for example, Authocopa papaveris of the corn-poppy. 

 Their burrows are made perpendicularly in 

 the beaten earth of roads, and each contains 

 one solitary cell, lined with portions of 

 petals. When the egg has been laid at the 

 bottom of this cell, the bee fills up the rest 

 of the hole with earth to hide it from notice. 

 Fig. 343. -Gaiiery of mAndrena. The Mining bees (Andrena) hollow out in 

 the ground tubular galleries (Fig. 343). They are not larger 



