BEE. 
435 
tations of these insects, and having cut off as much 
as was sufficient to expose two of the cells to view, 
in each of which there was a young maggot sur- 
rounded with paste, he closed the hole which he 
had made with a piece of glass, that he might watch 
their operations without interruption. He observed 
the two little worms daily increase in size, and the 
paste with which they were surrounded diminish 
in the same proportion. In fifteen days they had 
nearly consumed the whole of their provision, and 
had grown so large as nearly to fill each cell. In a 
few days after this, the food was entirely consumed; 
and they then fasted nearly a week, becoming, du- 
ring the time, exceedingly agitated, often bending 
their bodies, and raising and depressing their heads. 
This is common to many insects before they change 
into another state, and was observed in this instance, 
since each maggot shortly became a chrysalis, and 
in about twenty days afterwards they both were 
transformed into perfect bees. 
It appears that in some seasons this insect is very 
injurious to the timber, making a vast number 
of habitations near together, in the substance of 
healthy oaks, which have been greatly injured by 
their operations, fifty or sixty tubes lying within a 
little distance of each other. The bee which forms 
these curious cavities is of a dusky colour, and co- 
vered underneath with a bright ferruginous down. 
In size it nearly equals the honey bee. 
The bee which forms its nest of leaves in the 
shape of a thimble, is very nearly allied to the above, 
2 f 2 
