BEES AXD WASPS. 



505 



the earth. Many build in houses, or pierce their mud walls 

 till they look as if riddled with shot. Others make holes in 

 the ground, especially in sandy places. Others, again, con- 

 struct their habitations of clay, and fasten them to the boughs 

 of trees or to buildings. There are, indeed, mason bees, car- 

 penter bees, and miner bees and wasps. 



Watch the little, pale green bombex, or sand- wasp, at work, 



SAND-WASP SEIZING A CATERPILLAR. 



throwing out with its fore-feet jets of sand from the hole ifc is 

 forming in the sloping bank. In a wonderfully short time 

 the female miner has formed a gallery two or three inches in 

 length. Out she backs, making a few turns round the 

 entrance to admire her work or, probably, to take note of 

 the locality and then away she flies. She may be absent for 



