CARPENTER BEES. 
101 
size and delicacy of the tools employed, but the lit- 
tle carpenter works on until the house is finished. 
Great skill is shown in excavating the houses. 
The wood is tunneled, as shown in the oppo- 
site figure, and divided into cells a little less 
than an inch in depth. It is necessary for the 
proper growth of the young bees that they 
should be separated from each other, and also 
be provided with adequate food. The mother 
knows exactly the amount of food each grub 
will require during its growth ; and therefore 
she does not hesitate to cut it off from any fur- 
ther supply. In building the cells, the violet 
carpenter bee uses the sawdust which she has 
made in gnawing out the gallery, having col- 
lected it as fast as made into a little store-heap 
at a short distance from the nest. Other species 
use clay for the same purpose. 
The carpenter bee deposits but one egg at a 
time. She covers this nearly an inch in depth 
with the pollen of flowers made into a paste with 
honey, and closes in the whole with a tight ceil- 
ing, or roof. Upon this, she deposits and packs 
another egg, and so on. Of course, the lowest 
