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STRANGE DWELLINGS . 
One of the wood-boring bees is especially worthy of notice, 
because some of its habits were remarked a century ago by 
Gilbert White, who did not know its name, but chronicled its 
method of obtaining padding for the nest. We will call it the 
Hoop-shaver (. Anthidium manicatum). It is one of the summer 
insects, seldom appearing before the beginning of July, and is a 
rather stout-bodied insect, greyish black, with yellow lines ii 
along the sides of the abdomen. The last segment of the male I 
is notable for its termination in five teeth. Its length is rather ;i 
under half an inch, and it is a very remarkable fact that, con- 
trary to general usage among insects, the male is larger than the : 
female. 
This bee seldom takes the trouble of making its own burrow, 
but takes advantage of the deserted tunnel of some other insect, ; 
such as the musk-beetle or the goat moth. When she has 
selected a fitting home, she enlarges it slightly at the end, and j 
then goes in search of soft vegetable fibre wherewith to line it. 
‘ There is a sort of wild bee frequenting the garden campion for 
the sake of its tomentum, which probably it turns to some j 
purpose in the business of nidification. It is very pleasant to j 
see with what address it strips off the pubes, running from the 
top to the bottom of a branch, and shaving it bare with the 
dexterity of a ho op -shaver. When it has got a vast bundle, ; 
almost as large as itself, it flies away, holding it secure between 
its chin and its fore-legs.’ 
After performing this part of her duty, she makes a number 
of cells, using the same material, together with some glutinous | 
substance, placing an egg in each cell, and then leaves them. 
When the larvae have obtained their full dimensions, they spin 
separate cocoons within the cells, and in the following summer | 
the perfect insects make their appearance. 
If the reader will visit any fir-wood, and look out for the 
dying and dead trees which are sure to be found in such places, 
he will probably see that many of them are pierced with round 
holes, large enough to admit an ordinary quill. These are the 
burrows of a splendid insect called Sirex gigas by entomologists. 
