668 
THE STUDY OF INSECTS . 
tom of this tunnel. For this purpose it cuts from the 
leaves oblong pieces, each of which forms a part of a side 
and the bottom of the thimble-shaped tube. Two such 
pieces had been cut from the lower leaf on the left side of 
the spray figured here. When the thimble-shaped tube is 
completed, the bee partially fills it with a paste of pollen 
and nectar, and then places an egg upon the supply of food. 
She then cuts several circular pieces of leaves, the diameter 
Fig. 796.—A leaf-cutter bee, nest, and rose-leaves cut by the bee. 
of which is a little greater than the diameter of the tube, and 
forces them into the open end of it, thus making a tightly- 
fitting plug ; three of these circular pieces had been cut from 
the spray figured. Usually several cells of this kind are 
placed end to end in a burrow ; and sometimes many bees will 
build their nests near together in the same piece of wood. 
The leaf-cutter bees do not always bore tunnels in which 
