. Insect architecture. Insects. MASON-BEES. 38 had, no doubt, already dug its way out of its prison, and would probably fall a victim to the first frost. Our nest contained only two cells—perhaps from there not being room between the bricks for Ctllt of a Hns<m-Bee (Anllwptwm relusa),—One. An interesting account is given by Rt-aumur of ano- ther mason-bee (Megachile muraria), selecting earthy sand, grain by grain ; her gluing a mass of these toge- ther with saliva, and building with them her cells from the foundation. But the cells of the Greenwich Park nest were apparently composed
. Insect architecture. Insects. MASON-BEES. 38 had, no doubt, already dug its way out of its prison, and would probably fall a victim to the first frost. Our nest contained only two cells—perhaps from there not being room between the bricks for Ctllt of a Hns<m-Bee (Anllwptwm relusa),—One. An interesting account is given by Rt-aumur of ano- ther mason-bee (Megachile muraria), selecting earthy sand, grain by grain ; her gluing a mass of these toge- ther with saliva, and building with them her cells from the foundation. But the cells of the Greenwich Park nest were apparently composed of the mortar of the brick wall; though the external covering seems to have been constructed as Re'aumur describes his nest, with the occasional addition of small stones. About the middle of May, 1829, we discovered the mine from which all the various species of mason-bees in the vicinity seemed to derive materials for their nests*. It was a bank of brown clay, facing the east, and close by the margin of the river Ravensbourn, at Lee, in Kent. The frequent resort of the bees to this spot attracted the attention of some workmen, who, deceived by their resemblance to wasps, pointed it out as a wasp's nest; though they were not a little surprised to see so numerous a colony at this early season. As the bees had dug a hole in the bank,. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Rennie, James, 1787-1867. London, M. A. Nattali
Size: 2125px × 1176px
Photo credit: © The Book Worm / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1840, booksubjectinsects, bookyear1846
