320 APIAN CARPENTRY. 



chef d 1 aeuvre in insect joinery. It is the nest of a third apian 

 carpenter, called, from the beautiful colour of her wings, the 

 violet bee.* She is not, indeed, a recognised native of our 

 own island ; but we can, nevertheless, in this her workman- 

 ship, admire and do j ustice to her constructive skill. 



The material, wood, as in the former specimens, is, in this, 

 perforated by several tunnels cut for about an inch obliquely, 

 then in a perpendicular direction. Each of these tunnels is 

 about a foot deep by half an inch wide, and divided in its length 

 into separate cells about an inch in depth. f We may remember 

 that, in the structure last examined, the work of one of our 

 British carpenters, the perforation was divided in like manner by 

 thin partitions of clay, whereas, in the specimen before us, the 

 material of these divisions is sawdust, or the little chippings 

 produced in excavation, which, instead of removing, our arti- 

 ficer took especial care to collect in a heap beside her nest. 

 Her mode of proceeding has been thus described. Her tunnel 

 finished, "she deposits at its bottom a single egg, and over it 

 fills a space with pollen of flowers made into a paste with honey." 

 She then covers this over with a ceiling of cemented sawdust, 

 which also serves for the floor of the next chamber above it. 

 This plate exhibits concentric rings, resembling somewhat the 

 annual circles in the cross section of a tree, being worked by 

 the patient artificer (and here her skill in joinery), bit by bit, 

 from the circumference to the centre, all so united by the 



* Xylocopa violacea. t See Vignette, and refer to description. 



