UPHOLSTERERS 131 



perforated conical extension which Fabre surmises 

 to be to admit air. 



Anthidium seftemdentatum makes its cells in an 

 empty snail-shell, and shuts off the narrower whorls 

 by a wall of resin collected from plants. In the 

 remaining space which conchologists term the 

 body- whorl she constructs a couple of cells, separ- 

 ated by a wall of resin, and in each stores pollen 

 and honey with an egg. The mouth of the shell 

 is blocked with pellets of earth, little stones, or 

 such other material as may be handy. A. bellicosum 

 has similar habits to the last-mentioned, but it 

 does not occupy the body-whorl ; in consequence 

 it sometimes happens that a species of Osmia builds 

 her nest in the mouth of a shell and blocks up the 

 Anthidium. As the latter is ready to leave its cell 

 before the Osmia has completed its transformations, 

 the Anthidium dies a prisoner in its cell. 



But the insects that are most fully entitled to 

 the name of upholsterers are the Leaf-cutter Bees 

 {Megachile). These have long been known, not 

 only to naturalists, but also to every one who has 

 grown roses, for every rose-garden furnishes evi- 

 dence of the skill with which these bees cut out 

 circular and oval pieces for the lining of their 

 cells. Sometimes the foliage of one particular 

 rose-bush is specially attacked, and the rose-grower 

 who takes pride in the general perfection of his 

 plants — leaf as well as flower — is rather emphatic 

 in his denunciation of the " pest " that has wrought 

 this havoc. All round the edges of his rose-leaves 



