THE WALL-BEE. 
£27 
eggs, to the number of ten or twelve, each, separate and dis- 
tinct from the rest. The egg is involved in a sort of paste, 
which serves at once for the young animal’s protection and 
nourishment. The grown bees, however, feed upon small 
insects, particularly a louse, of a reddish brown colour, of 
the size of a small pin’s head. 
Mason-bees make their cells with a sort of mortar made of 
' earth, which they build against a wall that is exposed to the 
sun. The mortar, which at first is soft, soon becomes as 
hard as stone, and in this their eggs are laid. Each nest con- 
tains seven or eight cells, an egg in .every cell, placed regu- 
larly one over the other. If the nest remains unhurt, or 
wants but little repairs, they make use of them the year en- 
suing; and thus they often serve three or four years succes- 
sively. From the strength of their houses, one would think 
these bees in perfect security, yet none are more exposed than 
they. A worm with very strong teeth is often found to bore 
into their little fortifications, and devour their young. 
The Ground- bee builds its nest in theearth, wherein they 
make round holes, five or six inches deep ; the mouth being 
narrow, and only just sufficient to admit the little inhabitant, 
ft is amusing enough, to observe the patience and assiduity 
With which they labour. They carry out all theearth, grain by 
grain, to the mouth of the hole, where it forms a little hillock, 
an Alps compared to the power of the artist by which it was 
raised. Sometimes the walks of a garden are found under- 
mined by their labours ; some of the holes running directly 
downward, others horizontally beneath the surface. They 
lay up in these cavities provisions for their young, which con- 
sist of a paste that has the appearance of corn, and is of a 
sweetish taste. 
The Leaf -culling Bees make their nest and lay their eggs 
among bits of leaves, very artificially placed in boles in the 
‘‘artb, of about the length of a tooth-pick case. They make 
die bits of leaves of a roundish form, and with them line the 
‘aside of their habitations. This tapestry is still further lined 
by a reddish kind of paste, somewhat sweet or acid. These 
bees are of various kinds ; those that build their nests with 
chesnut-leaves are as big as drones; but those of the rose- 
dee are smaller than the common bee. 
The Wall bees arc so called because they make their nests 
'n walls, of a kind of silky membrane with which they fill up 
die vacuities between the small stones which form the sides of 
dieir habitation. Their apartment consists of several cells, 
l'Jaced end to end, each in the shape of a woman’s thimble, 
f bough the web which lines this habitation is thick and warm, 
it is transparent and of a whitish colour. This substance 
