THE LEAF-CUTTING BEE. 377 



little animal has completed her apartment, she fills 

 it with paste, made of pollen and honey, to the 

 height of seven or eight lines ; and, after deposit- 

 ing an egg f she pushes down the poppy-lining till it 

 completely covers the cell, and then closes up its 

 mouth with earth so nicely as to render it not dis- 

 tinguishable from the adjoining soil*. 



This is a little black Bee, about the third of an 

 inch in length. Its head and trunk are thickly 

 covered with hairs of a dirty grey-colour ; and the 

 under part of its body are clad with greyish hairs. 

 The abdomen is somewhat conical, black, and shin- 

 ing; but its segments are fringed with white hairs. 

 ■ — The male is nearly of the same length as the fe- 

 male, but rather narrower, and somewhat more 

 hairy. Its abdomen is inflexed, and not so hairy 

 underneath as above. The last segment terminates 

 In a fork with blunt teeth, and has on each side of 

 its base a sharp spine or point. 



THE LEAF-CUTTING BEEf. 



These Bees construct cylindrical nests, of the 

 leaves of the rose and other trees, which are some- 

 times of the length of six inches, and generally con- 

 sist of six or seven cells, each shaped like a thimble. 

 They are formed with the convex end of one fitting 

 into the open end of another. The portions of leaf 



* Kiiby, i. 143. — Reaum. Mem. torn. vi. p. 93— — 96. 

 i Apis centuncularis. Linn. 



