MASON BEES. 33 



?\iption till their destroyer has gradually satisfied the 

 necessities of his being. " All that the worm of the 

 wasp," says R'^-aumur, " has to do in his nest, from 

 his birth to his transformation, is to eat." There is 

 another species of wasp wliich does not at once en- 

 close in its nest all the sustenance which its larva 

 'will require before transformation, but which, from 

 time to time, imprisons a living caterpillar, and when 

 that is consumed opens the nest and introduces 

 another.* 



, Mason-Bees. 



It would not be easy to find a more simple, and, 

 at the same time, ingenious specimen of insect archi- 

 tecture, than the nests of those species of solitary 

 bees, which have been justly called mason-bees 

 [Megachile, Latreille.) Reaumur, who was struck 

 by the analogies between the proceedings of insects 

 and human arts, first gave to bees, wasps, and cater- 

 pillars those names which indicate the character 

 of their labours ; and which, though they may be 

 considered a little fanciful, are at least calculated to 

 arrest the attention. The nests of mason-bees are 

 constructed of various materials; some with sand, 

 some with earth mixed with chalk, and some with a 

 mixture of earthy substances and wood. 



On the north-east wall of Greenwich Park, facing 

 the road, and about four feet from the ground, we 

 discovered,! December 10th, 1828, the nest of a 

 mason-bee, formed in the perpendicular line of 

 cement between two bricks. Externally there was 

 an irregular cake of dry mud, precisely as if a hand- 

 ful of wet road-stuff had been taken from a cart-rut 

 and thrown against the wall; though, upon closer 

 inspection, the cake contained more small stones 



* Bonnet, Contemplation, &c. 1. xii. c. 41. + J. R. 



