436 
BEE. 
if not a variety of the same. There is a wide differ- 
ence, however, in their manner of proceeding, as 
this little animal avoids the labour which the other 
undergoes, and merely makes its nest beneath the 
surface of the ground. The leaves used by these 
insects in forming their conical habitations, are gene- 
rally selected from the rose bush, and they have a 
way of cutting them w hich is very singular. Having 
fixed upon the bush which seems best adapted to 
their purpose, they begin near the footstalk of the 
leaf, and cut away, by means of their strong jaws, 
with great expedition. They always make the 
incision in a curve line till the leaf is detached : im- 
mediately before this happens they prepare them- 
selves for flight, and each bee carries off its leaf in 
triumph the moment it parts from the stalk. 
The anecdote related by M. Reaumur, respecting 
the nest of this insect, is a strong instance of that su- 
perstition which has ever prevailed in the minds of 
uneducated people, and wdiich sometimes influences 
those of better understandings. “ In the beginning 
of July 1736, the learned Abbe Nollet, then at 
Paris, was surprised by a visit from an auditor of 
the chamber of accounts, whose estate lay at a di- 
stant village on the borders of the Seine, a few 
leagues from Rouen. This gentleman came ac- 
companied, among other domestics, by a gardener, 
whose face had an air of much concern. He had 
come to Paris in consequence of having found in his 
masters ground many rows of leaves, unaccountably 
disposed in a mystical manner, and which he could 
