. A manual for the study of insects. Insects. H YMEN OP TERA. 667 than the mentum (Fig. 795) ; the basal segments of the labial palpi are also elongate. A remarkable difference in habits exists among the different species of this family : some are solitary; others are inquilines; and a few are social. Among the solitary species we find an even greater variation in the form of the nest than we found among the solitary wasps or among the digger- wasps. Some of these bees are miners, digging tunnels in the ground ; some are masons, making their nests out of mortar- like mud; some are carpenters,
. A manual for the study of insects. Insects. H YMEN OP TERA. 667 than the mentum (Fig. 795) ; the basal segments of the labial palpi are also elongate. A remarkable difference in habits exists among the different species of this family : some are solitary; others are inquilines; and a few are social. Among the solitary species we find an even greater variation in the form of the nest than we found among the solitary wasps or among the digger- wasps. Some of these bees are miners, digging tunnels in the ground ; some are masons, making their nests out of mortar- like mud; some are carpenters, boring tunnels in the pith of plants or in solid wood; and some are leaf-cutters, lining their nests with pieces of leaves or of petals of flowers. We have space to describe the habits of only a few of these. I. THE SOLITARY LONG-TONGUED BEES. Fig. of the Honey-bee : j, The Leaf-cutter Bees, Megachile (Meg- LtrA^aipusT^; a-chi^le).—The bees of the genus Megachile ^^°^^^- have the curious habit of making cells for their young out of neatly-cut pieces of leaves. These cells are packed away in such secure places that one does not often find them ; but it is a very easy thing to find fragments of leaves from which the pieces have been cut by bees. The leaves of various plants are used for this purpose, but rose-leaves are used more frequently than any other kind. In Figure 796 there are represented one of these bees, its nest, and a spray of rose-leaves from which pieces have been cut by the bee. The species represented here, Megachile acuta (M. a-cu^ta), is a carpenter as well as a leaf-cutter. It first makes a tun- nel in wood, often selecting that which is partially decayed; then it proceeds to build a thimble-shaped tube at the bot-. 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 Comstock, Jo
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectinsects, bookyear1895
