THE MASON BEE. 3$$ 



mulates them to employ so uncommon a move- 

 ment. 



From the hardness of the materials with which 

 the Mason Bee constructs her nest, and from the in- 

 dustry and dexterity she employs to protect her 

 progeny from enemies of every kind, one should na- 

 turally imagine that the young would be in perfect 

 safety, and that their castle would be impregnable. 

 But, notwithstanding all these precautions, they are 

 often devoured by the larvae of a peculiar species of 

 ichneumon fly, the eggs of which are deposited in 

 the cells before the bee has completed them. But 

 they have an enemy even still more formidable than 

 the ichneumons. A species of Beetle* insinuates 

 its egg into an unfinished cell : from this proceeds 

 a strong and rapacious grub, armed with prodigious 

 fangs, which often pierces through every cell in the 

 nest, and successively devours all the inhabitants f. 

 The Mason Bee is about nine lines, or three 

 quarters of an inch in length. Its body is black, 

 and thickly clad with black hairs. The jaws are 

 very large and prominent, and terminate in two 

 blunt teeth. The wings are black with a tinge of 

 violet. The abdomen is somewhat conical, and 

 has underneath a patch of orange-coloured hairs. 

 The terminating joints of the legs are reddish. — 

 The male is covered with red hairs. 



* Attelahus qpiarlus of Linnaeus. 

 + Kirby, i. 179.— Reaumur, vol. vi. p. 57. 88, 



VOL. III. 



