the flowers o f the wild poppy, which fhe cuts out curioufly, and’
then Feizing them .with her legs, conveys them to her neft. If the
pieces, are rumpled fhe ftraitens them, and then affixes them to
her walls with wonderous art; fhe generally applies two layers
o f thefe fragments on each other.. If. the piece fhe has cut and
ranfported is too large for the place fhe intends it for, fhe clips,
off the fuperfluous parts, and, conveys the. fhreds out of the:
apartment.
After the bee has lined Her cell, fhe fills it nearly half an inch' i
deep with a pafte. prop.er to . nourifh the larva, when , hatched
from the egg; when the bee has amaffed a-fufficient- quantity of
pafte, fhe then takes her tapeftry, and folds it over the pafte and;
egg, which are by this means,inclofed.as it were in a bag ofpafte;
this ,done, fhe fills up with earth the empty fpace that is ahove
the bag. There is another, bee which does the fame with rofe -
leaves, and in the fubftance of a thick port.. A friend, o f mina
had a piece of wood cut from a ftrong ppft that fupported the roof?
o f a cart-houfe, full of thefe cells,or round holes, three-eighth's o ff
an inch diameter, and about three-fourths deep, each o f which Was
filled with thefe rofe-leaf cafes, finely covered ip at top and bottom.
Themafonbeeiafo called by Reaumur from tbe manner ofit’s,
building it’s neft. Thefe bees colled; with their jaws fmall par-
cels of earth and fand, which they, glue together with a ftrong
cement, which is furnilhed from the probofcis ; and of this they
form a. fimple but commodious habitation, which is generally,
placed along walls that are expofed to the fouth. Each neft re-
fembles a lump o f rude earth* o f about fix or feven inches s
diameter, thrown againft the w a ll; the labour of conftructing fo large
Targe an edifice muff be very great, as the bee can only carry a
few grains at a time. The exterior form is rude and irregular,
but the conftruaion and art exhibited in the interior parts make
up for this feeming defed ; it is generally divided into twelve or
fifteen cells, feparated from each other by a thick wall ; in each
o f thefe an egg is depofited by the parent bee. The cells are not
conftruâed.all at once, - for when one is .finilhed fhe places an egg
therein, with a fufficient quantity, of honey to nourifh the larva
fhe then builds another. When the infea is arrived at a proper
ftate it penetrates .through,it’s inclofuresby means of its ftrong
laws. When.all the bees have quitted the neft, there are as many
holes on the furface thereof as there are cells within. We find no
neutral bees among this fpecies,, or at leaft we do not know o f any,
being yet difcovered..
Another fpecies,of the fdlitary bee H U H É
eoniiruasher nell in piece, o f rotter. wood, «.d h a B H |
been d i e d the carpenter bee. • She dt.tde*.. tnto ft.ges. d,f-
B W f them fon,e.imes, in three rows, wt.h
k f t tew e e n e s c h ; in thefe ihe depof.ts her.eggs, with the-food
“ «IT,™ for ,he young ones when hatched. They fep.me .he
“ T 2 M M B dividing it s ligneous
fibres, or threads, till they have made a .proper fized ho •
The art and fagacity difplayed by another bee, f whole neftis
conftruaed o f Angle pieces of leaves, is truly wonderful. The
neft itfelf.is cylindrical, formed of feveral cells, placed one wit m
the other as thimbles are in a hardware {hop. The cells conf ft
* Geoffroy Hift. abregéê dés Ipfe&es, tom. 2, p. 4G1*
t Reaumur Mémoires pour.l’Hiftoire des Infedes, tom. 6, .par..u J?.t * * -