502 



ARTICULATA. 



THE CARDER-BEE S NEST. 



TaS UASON-BEB. 



the next bee, who passes it in the same manner to the next, and so on till it is brought to the 

 border of the nest — in the same way as we sometimes see sugar-loaves con- 

 veyed from a cart to a warehouse, by a file of porters throwing them from one 

 to another. The elevation of the dome, which is all built from the interior, 

 is from four to six inches above the level of the field. Beside the moss or 

 grass, they frequently employ coarse wax to form the ceiling of the vault, for the 

 purpose of keeping out rain, and preventing high winds from destroying it. 

 Within tliis retreat the eggs present an appearance not very different from that 

 of the humble-bee, of which we have given an engraving. 



The Cuckoo-Bees, Noviadce, elegantly and gaily colored insects, save them- 

 selves the trouble of nest-making by laying their eggs in the cells of their more 

 industrious brothers. 

 The Mason-Bee, Osmia, of which there are many kinds, makes its cells in spaces which H 



finds in timber or walls of brick or stone. 



The Carpenter-Bee, Xylocopa-, is partial to 

 posts, palings, and the wood-work of houses 

 which has become soft by beginning to decay. 

 Wood actually decayed, or affected by dry-rot, 

 they seem to reject as unfit for their purposes; 

 but they make no objections to any hole pre- 

 viously drilled, provided it be not too large; 

 and, like the mason-bees, they not unfrcquently 

 take possession of an old nest, a few repairs 

 being all that in this case is necessary. When 

 a new nest is to be constructed, the bee pro- 

 ceeds to chisel suflScient space for it out of the 

 wood, with her jaws. We say her^ because the 

 task in this instance, as in most others of solitary 

 bees and wasps, devolves solely upon the female, 

 the male taking no concern in the affair, and 

 probably being altogether ignorant that such 

 a work is going forward. The female carpen- 

 ter-bee has a severe task to perform, for though | 

 the wood may be tolerably soft, she can only cut 

 out a very small portion at a time. The suc- 

 cessive parts which she gnaws off may be 

 readily ascertained by an observer, as she carries 



THE CARPENTER BEE. 



A, B, C, tunnelings of the carpenter bee; E, the car- 

 penter bee ; D, a partition j F, teeth, magnified. 



