APIS MANICATA. 381 



hairy On each side of the abdomen are several 

 yellow spots. 



It forms its nest in hollow places in trees, &c 

 applying to this work the down of the Garden 

 Campion *, and some other woolly plants. The 

 Rev. Mr. White, of Selborne, seems to have been 

 the first naturalist who discovered this. He says 

 that " it is very pleasant to see with what address 

 this insect strips off the down, running from the 

 top to the bottom of a branch, and shaving it bare 

 with all the dexterity of a hoop-shaver. When it 

 has got a vast bundle, almost as large as itself, it 

 flies away, holding it secure between its chin and 

 fore legs f." 



Sir Thomas Cullum, in a letter to Mr. Marsham, 

 says, " I observed in a lock to one of my garden- 

 gates, that the key did not turn easily round, and, 

 upon looking into the key-hole, I saw something 

 white. I had the lock taken off, and it was com- 

 pletely full of a downy substance, containing the 

 pupa of some bee. On examining this, I am cer- 

 tain it is the fine pappus or down from the Anemone 

 sylvestris, of which I have two plants in my garden. 

 I have preserved the whole as I found it, but the bee 

 has not yet made its appearance in a perfect state." 

 This nidus was afterwards sent to the Rev. Mr. 

 Kirby, and five of the chrysalids produced perfect 

 insects j namely, three males, and two females 



* Agrostetnma coronari of Linnaeus. 

 + White's Naturalist's Calendar, 109, 



