THE WOOD PIERCER. 387 



as large as those produced by a hand-saw. The 

 strong jaws of this insect are the only instruments 

 she employs in these perforations. After the holes 

 are prepared, they are divided into ten or twelve 

 separate apartments, each about an inch deep, the 

 roof of one serving for the bottom of another. The 

 divisions are composed of particles of wood, ce- 

 mented together by a glutinous substance from the 

 animal's body. In making one of these, she com- 

 mences with glueing an annular plate of wood-dust, 

 about the thickness of half-a-crown, round the in- 

 ternal circumference of the cavity : to this plate she 

 attaches a second, to the second a third, and so on 

 till the whole floor is completed. Before each cell is 

 closed, it is filled with a paste composed of the farina 

 of flowers mixed with honey, and an egg is depo- 

 sited in it. When the larva is hatched, it has 

 scarcely room sufficient to turn itselt in the cell ; 

 but as the paste is devoured, the space is enlarged 

 so as to allow it to perform every necessary opera- 

 tion towards changing its state. 



We are informed by M. de Reaumur that M. 

 Pitot furnished him with a piece of wood, about an 

 inch and a half in diameter, that contained the 

 cells of one of these bees. He cut off as much of 

 the wood as was sufficient to expose two ot the 

 cells to view, in each of which was a larva. To 

 prevent the injuries of the air, he closed the aper- 

 ture that he had made by pasting it on a bit of glass. 

 The cells were at that time almost entirely filled 

 with paste. The two worms were exceedingly 

 small, and, of course, occupied but little space be- 

 C c 2 



