Solitary Bees and Wasps 



compass ; with her mouth as the second arm she bites 

 her way through the tissues of the leaf. Towards the 

 end of the cut her wings begin to vibrate rapidly, and not 

 without reason, for with the severance of the piece of leaf 

 she will be left without any solid support. 



Directly the leaf is cut she folds her piece in the 

 middle, takes firm hold with three legs on each side and 

 flies off with it to her tunnel She bends the piece of leaf 

 to fit the curve of the walls of her tunnel and pushes 

 it through the opening. This performance she repeats 

 time and again, using circular pieces for the ends of her 

 cells and oblong ones for the sides. Eventually she con- 

 trives one of the prettiest pieces of insect handiwork 

 imaginable. Each little cell resembles a miniature 

 thimble composed solely of leaves or petals, glued 

 together with wax. Each piece of leaf includes a portion 

 of the serrated margin, an arrangement which appears to 

 aid in the better adhesion of the pieces. In each cell the 

 mother bee deposits a single egg and a little bee bread. 

 Then she puts a circular piece of leaf on the top and pro- 

 ceeds with the construction of another cell, and so on, till 

 she has built up a string of cells, maybe two inches or more 

 in length, and so strong that, with the drying of the leaves, 

 they will bear comparatively rough treatment. Often the 

 complete nests contain as many as thirty cells, with an 

 average of about the same number of pieces of leaf in each 

 cell. Nearly a thousand rose-leaf snippings, all cut with 

 mathematical accuracy, represents no mean feat on the 

 part of the bee, and the expenditure of about three weeks' 

 labour. 



This industrious little bee is not without her enemies and, 

 curiously enough, the worst of them is one of her own kind. 

 The parasite bee is a cunning creature. Experience has 

 taught it that, from the nature of her work, the leaf-cutter 

 bee must needs be absent from home very frequently. 

 This is the eventuality for which the parasite is waiting. 

 When the leaf cell is partly completed, and the owner has 



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