CARPENTERS AND WOOD-WORKERS loi 



made that lower exit. The bee grub at the time 

 of its pupation fixes itself with its head downwards 

 against the floor of its cell ; and so, naturally, the 

 new-born bee cuts through the floor and makes its 

 way through the already vacated cells below. 



One regrets that the Carpenter Bee has not 

 crossed the English Channel and added its name 

 to the list of British Hymenoptera. But if we 

 cannot boast of one of the largest of bees among 

 our fauna, we have one of the smallest that is also 

 a clever artizan — Ceratina cyanea — whose metallic 

 blue body only measures a quarter of an inch. It 

 is related, moreover, to the burly Continental car- 

 penter, and shares its habits, though it works in 

 softer materials, as seems fitting to its diminutive 

 size. Ceratina needs no bulky post to accommodate 

 its series of cells. Everybody knows that the long 

 shoots of the bramble that have borne this autumn's 

 crop of blackberries will die off in the winter and 

 become brown and brittle. Next spring Ceratina 

 will be taking stock of these and looking for one 

 that has a broken end. Into this she will tunnel, 

 clearing out the pith to the length of about a foot, 

 dividing the cleared space into tiny cells, laying an 

 ^g^ in each and leaving a suitable mass of food. 

 The partitions between the cells are contrived out 

 of the pith-fragments glued together by means of 

 her saliva. 



In speaking of the provision of a lower exit from 

 her nest by Xylocopa we suggested that but for 

 this arrangement the newly developed bees might 



