23 



BRITISH BEES. 



ries of its cell. Its small head, which is smooth above, 

 has a little projecting horn on each side representing 

 the future antennae. The small lateral jaws articulate 

 beneath a narrow labrum or lip, which folds down over 

 them. To prove that the food provided requires still 

 further comminution, these jaws are incessantly masti- 

 cating it. The form of these jaws approximates to that 

 of the insect which it will produce, being toothed and 

 broad at the apex in the artisan and wood-boring bees, 

 and simple in those which burrow in softer substances. 

 On each side beneath these jaws there is an appendage, 

 rather plump, having a setiform process at its extremity, 

 and beneath these, in the centre, we observe a fleshy 

 protuberance which, at its tip, has a smaller perforated 

 process that emits the viscid liquid with which the gr>ib 

 spins its cocoon, and which immediately hardens to the 

 consistency of silk. 



Having constructed its cocoon, where the species does 

 so, — for it is not incidental to all the genera, — and 

 shrunk to its most compact dimensions, the larva be- 

 comes transformed into 



The Pupa. — This is semi-transparent at first, and 

 <^ h c there may be seen 



through the thin 

 pellicle, which inva- 

 riably clothes every 

 portion separately, 

 of the body the ri- 

 pening bee, which 

 lies, like a mummy, 

 with its wings and 

 legs folded lengthwise along its breast. The parts gra- 

 dually assume consistency, and the natural colours and 



Fig. 3.- 



-a, the pupa, seen beneath ; 6, seen 

 above ; c,seen laterally. 



