NESTS OF THE MEGACHIL^E. 227 



Megachilse or Leaf-cutters form their nests, is still more admir- 

 able. After the insect has bored a hole of suitable dimensions 

 in some old tree, she sets off in search of the materials for the 

 cells, and mostly betakes herself to a rosebush or laburnum. 

 Her process, in cutting the pieces of leaf that compose her nest, 

 is worthy of attention. Nothing can be more expeditious she 

 is not longer about it than we should be with a pair of scissors. 

 "After hovering for some moments over a rosebush, as if to recon- 

 noitre the ground, the bee alights upon the leaf she has selected, 

 usually taking her station upon its edge, so that the margin 

 passes between her legs. With her strong mandibles she cuts 

 without intermission in a curve-line, so as to detach a triangular 

 portion. When this hangs by the last fibre, she balances her 

 little wings for flight, lest its weight should carry her to the 

 ground, and the very moment it parts from the leaf, flies off with 

 it in triumph ; the detached portion remaining bent between her 

 legs, in a direction perpendicular to the body. Thus without rule 

 and compass do these diminutive creatures mete out the materials 

 of their work, into portions of an ellipse, in ovals or circles, 

 accurately accommodating the dimensions of the several pieces 

 of each figure to each other. What other architect could carry, 

 impressed upon the tablet of his memory, the entire idea of the 

 edifice which he has to erect, and, destitute of square and plumb- 

 line, cut out his materials in their exact dimensions without 

 making a single mistake ? Yet this is what a little bee invari- 

 ably does!"* 



The fashion after which she arranges her nest is equally 

 curious. Bending each leaf into a curved form, she presses 

 them successively into the burrow, in such a way that they fit 

 into one another, and form a small thimble-shaped cell. At the 

 bottom of the cell she places an egg and some bee-bread, a 

 composition of pollen and honey, and then sets to work upon 

 another cell ; and in this manner she proceeds, until she has 

 made a series of cells, some two inches in length. The leaves 

 are adjusted together so admirably, that although not covered 

 with any coating of gum, they are honey-tight. 



The tunnels of the carpenter-bees are likewise most wonder- 

 ful instances of instinct. When the little architect has fixed 

 upon a piece of wood which suits her purpose, she first bores 



* Kirby and Spence's Entomology. 

 O 2 



