
HYMENOPTERA. 369 
These nests (Figs. 840 and 341) are filled with cells of oblong 
form arranged irregularly. At first sight, they might be taken 
for little lumps of earth plastered against the wall. When the 
perfect insect emerges, it is obliged to soften the mortar with 
its saliva, and to remove it, grain by grain, with its mandibles. 
The nests of Chalicodomas are common in the environs of Paris, 






























Fig. 341.—Interior of the Nest of the Mason Bee. 
on walls of rough stones exposed to the south. They are 
often to be found in the parks of Meudon, of Conflans, of 
Vésinet, Ke. 
The Leaf-cutting bees (Megachile) are not less worthy of remark 
in their habits. These insects make their nests in tubes made with 
the leaves of the rose, the pear, the elder, &c., placed in a cylindrical 
burrow. Each nest contains generally from three to six cells, sepa- 
rated by partitions of leaves. They cut off the pieces of leaves 
Osmia bicornis, a portion of the nest had been forced out by the insertion of the key ; 
the locks were in pretty constant use, so that the nests must have been built in the 
course of a few days.— Journal of Proceedings of the Entomological Society of 
London,” 1867, lxxvi.—Ep. 
B B 

