BEES NESTS. 



335 



many persons ; but yet it merits attention, because 

 it seems to be a construction upon which more than 

 usual foresight has been manifested it not being 

 merely an asylum in which the young may be 

 matured in quiet, but secured against external 

 annoyance from its most destructive enemy by a 

 contrivance so unusual and effective, that it appears 

 formed from the result of a reasoning upon proba- 

 bilities. This creature a short, stout, plain bee 

 mines a tubular channel into some decayed woody 

 substance a post, pale, or some such thing boring 

 in the direction of the fibre, making her repository at 

 the bottom, being sufficiently deep for her purpose. 



A, the rail cut open, showing the channel and nest. 

 B, part of the nest, with the larva. C, patches filling up the channel. 



She cuts from the leaf of a rose several large pieces, 

 often an half, conveying them to the bottom of her 



