HABITATIONS OF INSECTS. 285 



and a species which M. Goureau conceives to be O. hicolor employed a 

 whole day in arranging over the mouth (as he supposes) of its cell pieces 

 of grass about two inches long, in a conical or tent-like form^ ; and that 

 this species employs this material for some purpose connected with its nest 

 is confirmed by Mr. Thwaites, who observed a female for a considerable 

 time fetching similar pieces of grass, and laying them over a snail-shell, 

 where he had every reason to believe she had formed her cells. Unfor- 

 tunately neither M. Goureau nor Mr. Thwaites could pursue their observa- 

 tions, not having been able the following day to find any trace of the labors 

 they had observed on that preceding. 



The works thus far described require in general less genius than labor 

 and patience : but it is far otherwise with the nests of the last tribe of 

 artificers amongst wild bees, to which I shall advert — the hangers of tapes- 

 try, or upholsterers — those which line the holes excavated in the earth for 

 the reception of their young with an elegant coating of flowers or of leaves. 

 Amongst the most interesting of these is Megachile^ Papavcris, a species 

 whose manners have been admirably described by Reaumur. This little 

 bee, as though fascinated with the color most attractive to our eyes, inva- 

 riably chooses for the hangings of her apartments the most brilliant scarlet, 

 selecting for its material the petals of the wild poppy, which she dexte- 

 rously cuts into the proper form. Her first process is to excavate in some 

 pathway a burrow, cylindrical at the entrance but swelled out below to 

 the depth of about three inches. Having polished the walls of this little 

 apartment, she next flies to a neighboring field, cuts out oval portions of 

 the flowers of poppies, seizes them between her legs and returns with them 

 to her cell ; and though separated from the wrinkled petal of a half- 

 expanded flower, she knows how to straighten their folds, and, if too large, 

 to fit them to her purpose by cutting off the superfluous parts. Beginning 

 at the bottom, she overlays the walls of her mansion with this brilliant 

 tapestry, extending it also on the surface of the ground round the margin 

 of the orifice. The bottom is rendered warm by three or four coats, and 

 the sides have never less than two. The little upholsterer, having com- 

 pleted the hangings of her apartment, next fills it with pollen and honey 

 to the height of about half an inch; then, after committing an egg to it, 

 she wraps over the poppy lining so that even the roof may be of this ma- 

 terial, and lastly closes its mouth with a small hillock of earth.^ The 

 great depth of the cell compared with the space which the single egg and 

 the accompanying food deposited in it occupy deserves particular notice. 

 This is not more than half an inch at the bottom, the remaining two inches 

 and a half being subsequently filled with earth. — When you next favor 

 me with a visit, I can show you the cells of this interesting insect as yet 

 unknown to British entomologists, for which I am indebted to the kindness 

 of M. Latreille, who first scientifically described the species.'* 



Megachile ccniuncularis, M. Willughbiella, and other species of the 

 same family, like the preceding, cover the walls of their cells with a coat- 

 ing of leaves, but are content with a more sober color, generally selecting 

 for their hangings the leaves of trees, especially of the rose, whence they 

 have been known by the name of the leaf-cutter bees. They differ also 



> Ann. Soc. Ent. dc France, ix. 123. « Apis. **. c. 2. a. K. 



^ Keaum. vi. 139—148. * Lair. Hist. Nat. des Fourmis, 2'J7. 



