368 THE INSECT WORLD. 
These nests (Figs. 340 and 341) are filled with cells of oblong 
form arranged irregularly. At first sight, they might be taken 
for little lumps of earth plastered against the wall. When the 
perfect insect emerges, it is obliged to soften the mortar with its 
saliva, and to remove it, grain by grain, with its mandibles. 
The nests of Chalicodomas are common in the environs of Paris, 
















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on walls of rough stones exposed! to the south. They are 
often to be found in the parks of Meudon, of Conflans, of 
Vésinet, &c. ; 
The Leaf- cutting Bees (Megachile) are not less worthy of remark 
in their habits. ‘lhese insects make their nests in tubes lined with 
the leaves of the rose, the willow, the lilac, &c., placed in a cylindri- 
cal burrow. Each nest contains generally from three to six cells, 
separated by partitions of leaves. They cut off the pieces of leaves 
Osmia bicornis, a portion of the nest had been forced out by the insertion of the key ; 
the locks were in pretty constant use, so that the nests must have been built in the 
course of a few days.—“ Journal of Proceedings of the Entomological Society of 
London,” 1867, lxxvi.—Ep. 
