44 
INSECTS. 
Their cells are built in rows in the solid wood of trees, and the method of procedure 
will be observed in the illustration exhibiting the violet carpenter-bee {X. violacea). 
This species, which is rare in Northern Europe, forms a series of cells in each of 
which lies a larva, and since the lower 
ones are obviously the oldest, it is some¬ 
what difficult to understand how the newly - 
-emerged perfect bee escapes into the upper 
air from the lower cell. At present it is 
not altogether clear what course it takes; 
whether it gnaws its way through the 
chambers where brothers and sisters are 
peacefully awaiting future developments— 
at the imminent risk of arresting all 
chances of such by thus breaking into their 
bedrooms, to the detriment of nervous 
systems not yet hardened to bear the strain 
—or whether it gnaws its way straight 
out at the side, seems a matter of doubt. 
Some authorities state that the female has 
already foreseen and guarded against such 
VIOLET-WINGED CARPENTElt-BEE, WITH CELLS CUT OUT i • i i , • • i 
in a tree-stem undesirable contingencies, by preparing a 
door of escape at the bottom of the lower 
cell. And they record as a remarkable fact that the bees, each in turn, gnaw 
through the floor of its cell, and of course find their elder brother or sister already 
flown from the cell next below. They never go in the opposite direction through 
12 A 5 7 
3 6 
1, 2, hairy-legged flower-bee ( Anthojohora hirsuta), female and male , 3, 4, tufted flower-bee {A. 
retusa ), female and male ; 5, wall-nesting flower-bee {A. jparietina), female; 6, 7, long-horned bee (Eucera 
loncjicornis), female and male. (All of nat. size.) 
the roof. Our next examples of this family are the flower-bees (Anthopliora), of 
which three species are shown in the annexed illustration. In general appearance 
these insects closely approximate to humble - bees. They build their nests in 
