rest.

circle of cells being somewhat lower or shorter than the These curious nests are usually found from about the middle of June, to the beginning of October.

OF THE BEES IN GENERAL*.

These insects are very numerous, and differ considerably in their habits. Some of the species are found in extensive communities, which construct, with the utmost art, cells for their offspring, and repositories for their food; while others both dwell and work in solitude. The whole tribe live on the nectar of flowers, and on ripe fruit.

Their larvæ are soft and without feet, and the chrysalis resembles the perfect insect.

THE POPPY BEET.

The Poppy Bee forms her nest in the ground, burrowing to the depth of about three inches. At the bot

* The Bees, according to the generic character given of them by Linnæus, have a horny mouth, with the jaws and the lip membranaceous at the end: the tongue is inflected; and they have four unequal, thread-shaped feelers. Their antennæ are short and filiform, but those of the female are somewhat clubshaped. The wings are flat; and the females and neuters have pungent stings concealed in the abdomen.

The English Bees have undergone an accurate investigation by the Rev. Mr. Kirby, who has discovered no fewer than two hundred and twenty-one species, though fifteen years before that time none of our books mentioned so many as a dozen. He divides the Linnean genus Apis, into Melitta and Apis, distinguishing them by their tongues: the insects of the former having short, flattish, uninflected tongues; and those of the latter long, cylindrical, and inflected tongues, easily examined by raising them with a pin from the sheath in which they are concealed.

DESCRIPTION. This is a little black Bee, about the third of an inch in length. Its head and trunk are thickly covered with hairs of a dirty gray colour; and the upper parts of its body are clad with grayish hairs. The abdomen is somewhat

tom she makes a large and somewhat hemispherical cavity, which, after being rendered perfectly smooth on all sides, she carefully lines with a splendid tapestry, selected from the flowers of the wild poppy. From these, with great dexterity, she cuts pieces of proper size and form, which she conveys to her cell; and, beginning at the bottom, covers with it the whole interior of this habitation of her future progeny. If the piece she has cut out and transported, be found too large for the place she intends it to fit, she clips off the superfluous parts, and conveys the shreds out of the apartment. The covering is even sometimes extended a little way round the orifice. The bottom is rendered warm by three or four coats, and the sides have never less than two. When the little animal has completed her apartment, she fills it with paste, made of pollen and honey, to the height of about half an inch; and, after having deposited an egg, she pushes down the poppy-lining until it completely covers the cell, and then closes up its mouth with earth, so nicely, as to render it not distinguishable from the adjoining soil.

THE LEAF-CUTTING BEE*.

These Bees construct cylindrical nests of the leaves of the rose and other trees. These nests are sometimes of the depth of six inches, and generally consist of six or seven cells, each shaped like a thimble. They are formed with the convex end of one fitting into the

open

conical, black, and shining; but its segments are fringed with white hairs. The male is nearly of the same length as the female, but rather narrower, and somewhat more hairy. Its abdomen is inflexed, and not so hairy underneath as above. The last segment terminates in a fork with blunt teeth, and has on each side of its base a sharp spine or point.

SYNONYMS. Apis Papaveris. Kirby, i. 142, 214.—Abeille tapissière. Reaumur.-Mégachile du Pavot. Latreille.

• DESCRIPTION. The general colour of this Bee is brown.

end of another. The portions of leaf of which they are made are not glued together, nor are they any otherwise fastened, than in the nicety of their adjustment to each other; and yet they do not admit the liquid honey to drain through them. The interior surface of each cell consists of three pieces of leaf, of equal size; narrow at one end, but gradually widening to the other, where the width equals half the length. One side of each of these pieces, is the serrated margin of the leaf. In forming the cell, the pieces of leaf are made to lap one over the other, (the serrated side always outermost,) till a tube is thus formed, coated with three, four, or more layers. In coating these tubes, the provident little animal is careful to lay the middle of each piece of leaf over the margins of others, so as, by this means, both to cover and strengthen the junctions. At the closed or narrow end of the cell, the leaves are bent down so as to form a convex termination. When a cell is formed, the next care of the Bee is to fill it with honey and pollen, which, being collected chiefly from the thistles, form a rose-coloured paste. With these the cell is filled to within about half a line of its orifice; and the female then deposits in it an egg, and closes it with three perfectly circular pieces of leaf, which coincide so exactly with the walls of the cylindrical cell, as to be retained in their situation without any gluten. After this covering is fitted in, there still remains a hollow, which receives the convex end of the succeeding cell. In this manner the patient and indefatigable animal proceeds, till her whole cylinder of six or seven cells is completed. This is generally formed under the surface of the ground, in a fistular passage, which it entirely fills, except at the entrance. If the labour of these insects be

The segments of the abdomen are bodered with white at the sides; and the under part of its extremity is red. SYNONYMS. Apis centuncularis. Linn.--L'Abeille coupeuse de Rosier. Cuvier.-Mégachile centunculaire. Latreille.

interrupted, or the edifice be deranged, they exhibit astonishing perseverance in setting it again to rights.

Their mode of cutting pieces out of the leaves for their work, deserves particular notice. When one of these Bees selects a rose-bush with this view, she flies round or hovers over it for some seconds, as if examining for the leaves best suited to her purpose. When she has chosen one, she alights upon it, sometimes on the upper, and sometimes on the under surface, or not unfrequently on its edge, so that the margin passes between her legs. Her first attack, which is generally made the moment she alights, is usually near the footstalk, with her head turned towards the point. As soon as she begins to cut, she is wholly intent on her labour; nor does she cease till her work is completed. The operation is performed by means of her jaws, with as much expedition as we could exert with a pair of scissors. As she proceeds, she holds the margin of the detached part between her legs in such a manner, that the section keeps giving way to her, and does not interrupt her progress. She makes her incision in a curved line, approaching the midrib of the leaf at first; but when she has reached a certain point, she recedes from this towards the margin, still cutting in a curve. When she has nearly detached from the leaf the portion she has been employed upon, she balances her little wings for flight, lest its weight should carry her to the ground; and the very moment it parts, she flies off in triumph, carrying it in a bent position between her legs, and perpendicularly to her body.

The larvæ of the Leaf-cutting Bees do not differ in appearance from those of the Hive-bees. When arrived at their full size, they spin a coccoon of silk, thick and solid, which they attach to the sides of their cell. Those produced first, are from the first-laid eggs; so that, when they are ready to emerge into the air, they do not interrupt each other's progress in passing through the bottom of their cells. These larvæ are exposed to

the attacks of other insects, that make their way into the cells, and deposit there their eggs.

This mode of forming a nest is not confined to the present species: several other bees perform similar operations; but they adopt the leaves of different trees for this purpose, such as those of the horse- chesnut, the elm, &c.

THE GARDEN BEE*.

He says,

This singular little insect is very common about gardens in or near towns. It forms its nest in hollow places in trees, &c. applying to this work the down of the garden campiont, and some other woolly plants. The Rev. Mr. White of Selborne, seems to have been the first naturalist who discovered it. "it is very pleasant to see with what address this insect strips off the down from the campion, running from the top to the bottom of a branch, and shaving it bare, with all the dexterity of a hoop-shaver. When it has got a vast bundle, almost as large as itself, it flies away, holding it secure between its chin and fore-legs."

Sir Thomas Cullum, in a letter to Mr. Marsham, states, that the key not easily turning round in the lock of one of his garden gates, he looked into the key-hole, and, observing in it something white, ordered the lock to be taken off. When this was done, the lock was found completely full of a downy substance, which contained the chrysalids of the Garden Bee. The down, as Sir Thomas imagined, was that of the anemone sylvestris,

• DESCRIPTION. The length of this insect is from half an inch to three quarters of an inch. It is of a dark colour, and hairy. On each side of the abdomen there are several yellow spots. SYNONYMS. Apis manicata. Linn.-L'Abeille à cinq Crochets. Tigny.-Mégachile à cinque Crochets. Latreille.

+ Agrostemma coronaria, of Linnæus.