HYMENOPTERA. 367 
have their parasites, like the Melectas, the humble bees. These 
are hairy, blackish insects, spotted with white, laying their eggs 
‘in the nests of the Anthophoras, which permit them to do so, and, at 
the expense of their own progeny, bring up the intruder’s little 
» ones. 
The Carpenter bee, or Wood-piercer (Xylocopa), hollows out 
) galleries in worm-eaten wood, and builds in them cells placed one 
‘over the other, a work often occupying many weeks. She then 
furnishes the bottom of the cell with pollen mixed up with honey, 
‘lays an egg in the middle of this paste, and closes the cell by a 
fake) 
| ceiling of sawdust agglutinated with saliva. On this ceiling she 
| establishes a new cell, and so on, right up to the orifice, which she 
closes in the same manner. Réaumur is astonished, with reason, at 
| the admirable instinct which makes this provident mother determine 
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Fig. 339.— Carpenter Bee, Pup, Eggs, Galleries, and Nests. 
the exact quantity of nourishment which will be necessary for its 
larva. When this has absorbed all its provision, it alone quite 
fills up its cell, and changes into a pupa. It is worthy of remark, 

