468 NATURALIST'S CABINET. 



Curious mode of carrying moss for the nest. 



from observation. The mode in which they 

 transport the moss they use in their nest is singur 

 lar. When they have discovered a parcel fitted 

 to their purpose, and conveniently situated, they 

 place themselves in a line, with their back turned 

 towards the nest. The foremost lays hold of 

 some with her jaws, and clears it bit by bit with 

 her fore feet: when this is sufficiently disentan- 

 gled, she drives with her feet under her belly, 

 and as far as. possible beyond, to the second. 

 The second, in like manner, pushes it on to the 

 third, and so on. Thus small heaps of prepared, 

 moss are conveyed to the nest by a file of four or 

 five insects, where they are wrought and inter- 

 woven with the greatest dexterity by those that 

 yeinain within. 



The nests are often six or seven inches in dia- 

 meter, and elevated to the height of four or five 

 inches above the surface or' the ground. When 

 the covering of . moss is taken up, an irregular 

 comb presents itself, composed of an assemblage 

 of oval bodies disposed one against another. 

 Sometimes there are two or three combs, placed 

 on one another, but not united. These combs 

 vary in ?ize : they consist of a number of oblong 

 or oval cells or coccoons, of a silky substance, 

 fastened together, and spun by the larvae when 

 they are about to undergo their first change; for 

 the carding bees do not form waxen cells for 

 their young. The cells are of three dimensions, 

 answering to the three sexes. The void spaces* 



