196 HOMES WITHOUT HANDS. 



called, because its burrows are so frequently made in decaying 

 willow-trees. This species is very common in most parts of En- 

 gland, and is therefore a good example of the wood-boring bees. 

 The method by which the nests are made is very curious. After 

 the insect has bored a hole of suitable dimensions in some old tree, 

 she sets off in search of materials for the cells, and mostly betakes 

 herself to a rose-bush, or laburnum-tree. She then examines one 

 leaf after another, and having fixed on one to her mind, she settles 

 upon it, clinging to its edge with her feet, and then, using her feet 

 as one leg of a pair of compasses, and her jaws as the other, she 

 quickly cuts out a nearly semicircular piece of leaf. As she sup- 

 ports herself by clinging to the very piece of leaf which she cuts, 

 she would fall to the ground, when the leaf was severed, did she 

 not take the precaution of balancing on her wings for a few mo- 

 ments before making the last cut. As soon as the portion of leaf 

 is severed, she flies away with it to her burrow, and then arranges 

 it after a truly curious fashion. 



Bending each leaf into a curved form, she presses them success- 

 ively into the burrow in such a manner that they fit into one an- 

 other, and form a small thimble-shaped cell. At the bottom of 

 the cell she places an egg and some bee-bread, this substance be- 

 ing composed of pollen mixed with 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. When the cells 

 are first made, the natural elasticity of the leaf renders them firm, 

 and as they become dry and stiff in a few days, they are then so 

 strong that they can be removed from the burrow, and handled 

 without breaking. 



There is another bee allied to this genus, that employs the 

 petals of the scarlet poppy for this purpose, but unfortunately it 

 is not a native of England. Another species of burrowing bee, 

 Megachile centuncularis, seems rather capricious in its choice of 

 burrows, at one time making its tunnel into an old post or decay- 

 ing tree, at another into the mortar of old walls, at another into 

 the ground. It is extremely variable in size, sometimes barely 

 exceeding a quarter of an inch in length, and sometimes reaching 

 twice that size. Mr. Smith mentions that this is perhaps the most 

 widely distributed bee in the whole family of Apidas, extending 

 even as far northward as Hudson's Bay. 



On the left hand of the same illustration may be seen a figure 



