CLASS I. INSECTA: ORDER 3. HYMENOPTERA. 
561 
INTERIOR OP THE HUMBLE-BEE's NEST. 
called Soliiary Bees we can mention only a few species. The TIpliohtereT Bees, of wlilcli tliere 
are several kinds, line their nests with pieces of leaf, which they cut as neatly as if done with a 
pair of scissors. One species is called Osmia loapaverh from her selecting the scarlet petals of 
the poppy as tapestry for her cells. From these she cuts off small pieces of an oval shape, seizes 
them between her legs, and conveys them to the nest. She begins her work at the bottom, 
which she overlays with three or four leaves in thickness, and the sides have never less than 
two. When she finds that the piece she has brought is too large to fit the place intended, she 
cuts off" what is superfiuous, and carries away the shreds. 33y cutting the fresh petal of a poppy 
with a pair of scissors, we may perceive the difficulty of keeping the -piece free from wrinkles 
and shrivehng, but the bee knows how to spread the pieces which she uses as smooth as glass. 
When she has in this manner hung the little chamber all around with this splendid scarlet 
tapestry, of which she is not sparing, but extends it even beyond the entrance, she then fills it 
with the pollen of flowers mixed with honey to the height of about half an inch. In this maga- 
zine of provisions for her future progeny she lays her eggs, where in due time they are hatched. 
The Carder-Bees, Bombi mziscorum, are found in open fields and meadows, usually in hay- 
ing-time. They select for their nest a shallow excavation in the ground, about a foot in diame- 
ter, or if such a one is not to be found, they make one with prodigious labor. This they cover 
over with a dome of moss, or sometimes with withered grass. They collect their materials by 
pushing them along upon the ground, working backward like the tumble-bugs. Frequently in 
the spring, a single female founds the colony, and by perseverance collects the mossy covering in 
the way described ; later in the season, when the hive is populous and can afford more hands, 
there is an ingenious division of this labor. A file of bees, to the number sometimes of half a 
dozen, is established from the nest to the moss or grass which they intend to use, the heads of 
all the file of bees being turned from the nest and toward the material. The last bee of the file 
lays hold of some of the moss with her mandibles, disentangles it from the rest, and having 
carded it with her fore-legs into a sort of felt or small bundle, she pushes it under her body to 
Vol. II.— 71 
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