INSECT ARTIZANS AND THEIR WORK 



tunnel of some other insect, such as the Musk Beetle 

 or the Goat Moth, and appropriates it to her own 

 use. 



This is the insect to which Gilbert White refers 

 in the following passage, though he did not know 

 its name : " There is a sort of wild bee frequenting 

 the garden campion for the sake of its tomentum, 

 which probably it turns to some purpose in the 

 business of nidification. It is very pleasant to see 

 with what address it strips off the pubes, running 

 from the top to the bottom of a branch, and 

 shaving it bare with the dexterity of a hoop-shaver. 

 When it has got a bundle, almost as large as itself, 

 it flies away, holding it secure between its chin 

 and its fore legs." 



In addition to the plant mentioned by White, 

 the Carder Bee gathers her cotton-wool from the 

 corn-cockle, the quince, and other plants with 

 downy leaves and stems. With this she lines the 

 cavity selected for her operations, and forms her 

 cells in it, coating the inside of the cells with 

 cement to enable them to hold the pollen-honey 

 mixture with which she next stores them. This 

 is the only British species, and even here it ' is 

 restricted to the southern part of the Island, but 

 there are others on the Continent. Fabre has 

 described the work of Anthidium diadema, which 

 forms its nests in hollow reeds, much after the 

 fashion adopted by our species. The grub befa 

 pupation constructs a cocoon of its own frass con- 

 nected by silk. At one end it is provided with a 



