The cylindrical tube being prepared, which is done very similarly to the way in which it is practised by all the labouring genera, by the gradual removal of the particles of the wood, or sand, or earth of which it consists, the insect’s instinct prompts it to fly forth to obtain the requisite lining, that the lateral earth may not fall in, or the wood taint the store to be accumulated for the young, for it is before this is done that the upholstery is commenced. Having fixed upon the preferred plant, Rose-bush or Laburnum or Sallow, or whatever it may be, it alights upon the leaf, and fixing itself upon the edge, it holds it with three legs on each side, then using its mandibles as the cutter of silhouettes would his scissors, and, just as rapidly as he cuts out a profile, does this ingenious little creature ply the tools it is furnished with by nature. The oval or semicircular cutting being thus speedily dispatched, with the legs still clinging to the surfaces, the insect biting its way backwards, the piece cut off necessarily remains within the clutch of the legs, and, when about falling, the rejoicing labourer expands her wings and flies off with it with a hum of delightful triumph, the cutting being carried perpendicularly to her body. In a direct line she wings her way to the receptacle, and arrived at the mouth of the aperture within which she has to convey it, she rolls it to its requisite tubular form and thrusts it forward to the bottom of the cavity. The first piece for the lining of each cell is always oval and larger in proportion than the succeeding ones, which, to the number of three or four, are semicircular, the first piece having an extra use to serve in forming a concave bottom to the cavity. Having completed the requisite manipulation, for adjusting it to shape the external lining of the bottom and sides of the first cell, she withdraws backwards, again flies off, and, as if she had traced a trail in the air, or had marked its limpidity with a frothy surge, like that left in the wake of a ship, to note the road for her return, back she wends to the same plant, and proximately to the spot of her recent triumphant exploit renews the operation, but the result of which, this time, is to be semicircular. Home she flies again, and the arrangement within of this piece is different to that of the first, for this is simply tubular, and so placed that it imbricates with its cut margin within the serrated edge of the first and the third, and in case of a fourth the fourth also is similarly placed, so that one laps within the other, the edges of two of these cuttings never being conterminous. The number of the coatings is apparently regulated by the drier or moister condition of the substance in which the tunnel is drilled. Another duty has now to be performed, indeed, that for which all the preceding labours were undertaken,—the provision for its young, wherein it perpetuates its kind,—and thus on and on flows the wonderful stream of life, whose origin who shall estimate through the millennia it has hitherto so placidly and uniformly traversed, and whose termination who shall predict? Having completed the requisite store of honey mixed with pollen, this is carried to the brush with which the under side of the abdomen is furnished, by means of the posterior legs. The honey and pollen are gathered from different kinds of thistles, whence it acquires a reddish hue and looks almost like conserve of roses, and the nest is filled with it to within a line of its top; the egg is then deposited, but the coating of leaves, which enclose the cell completely, secures the store from lateral absorption, although the mixture is rather more fluid, consisting of a relatively greater quantity of honey than is usual, excepting perhaps in the case of Ceratina, and although no viscous secretion is used to bind the leaves together, which retain their position from merely lateral pressure. The cell has now to be closed, and the artificer knowing that the transverse section of the cylinder is circular, again flies forth, and without compass, but with all the accuracy with which Leonardo da Vinci struck a circle with his pencil, to testify his mastery, cuts the leaf again in that form, and as surely: and, three or four, or five or six times, repeats this operation, returning each time with each piece, so many having been variously observed. The separation between the cells being thus consolidated, it is further thickened by the lateral, spare, protruding edge of the leaf first introduced lapping over it. The whole process is again renewed in the same manner as at first, the bottom edge of the cutting of the external leaf is again curved to form a concave bottom to the next cell, and the sides are similarly formed, and each cell fits the preceding like the top of one thimble placed in the mouth of another. The repetition of all this is continued until the completion of the five or six cells necessary to fill the tube, when another is formed with the same routine, if her store of eggs is not exhausted; and the orifice of the tube, upon the completion of the last cell, which is closed in the usual way, is filled up with earth. Should any casualty interfere with her labours or temporarily derange their utility, without the obstruction being one that would permanently affect it, the remarkable patience and rapidity with which the repairs are effected, or the obstructions removed, is worthy of all admiration,—the στοργὴ, or love of offspring, being the predominant passion which overthrows and controls every difficulty.
When full fed, the larva spins a thick cocoon of silk, which is attached to the sides of the cell; the outer coating of this cocoon is of a coarser and browner silk than the interior, which is formed of very delicate threads of a slaty-whitish colour and of a close texture, and which is as lustrous as satin. The exact period of their evolution from this state is not recorded, but it is probable that they pass the winter enveloped in their cocoon as pupæ, and in their season come forth the following year.
Genus 20. Anthidium, Fabricius.
([Plate XIII.] fig. 1 ♂♀.)
Apis ** c 2 β, Kirby.
Gen. Char.: Body subglabrous. Head transverse, as wide as the thorax; ocelli in a triangle on the vertex, which is flat; antennæ shortish, slender, filiform, subgeniculated; the scape stouter than the flagellum, subclavate, first joint of flagellum globose, the remainder subequal; face flat; clypeus triangular, truncated at its base, slightly rounded in front and convex; labrum longitudinally oblong, the sides parallel and concavo-convex; mandibles dilated at the apex, where they are quinque-dentate; the alternate teeth smallest; cibarial apparatus long; tongue very long, tapering to its extremity; paraglossæ very short, one-sixth the length of the tongue, coadunate at the base and subhastate; labial palpi more than half the length of the tongue, the two first joints very long, the second the longest, and both tapering to the acute extremity of this, where, just before its apex, the third very short subclavate joint articulates with the still shorter terminal joint conterminous with it; labium one-third the length of the tongue, its inosculation with an acute projection in the centre; maxillæ as long as the tongue, subhastate and acuminate; maxillary palpi springing from a deep sinus at its base, very short, two-jointed, the basal joint the shortest, and the second obtuse one terminating with a few rigid setæ. Thorax subglobose; prothorax inconspicuous; mesathorax slightly convex, wing-scales large; scutellum lunulate, projecting and impending over the metathorax, which is truncated; wings with two submarginal cells, and a third indistinctly commenced, the second slightly the longest, and receiving the two recurrent nervures one at each extremity; legs moderate, subsetose, the tibiæ fimbriated along the edges, the anterior spurs slightly palmated; the plantæ of the four anterior pairs longer than their tibiæ, but those of the posterior not quite so long, and all densely clothed all round with a brush of short close hair; the claws distinctly bifid. Abdomen semicircular, very convex; the base truncated and hollowed to fit the metathorax; the segments slightly constricted, the terminal segment transversely concave, and its apex terminating in three slight angles; the venter, which is flat, is densely clothed from the second segment with parallel layers of equal, moderately long, shining hair, the segment being distinctly indicated by these layers.
The MALE differs in being considerably larger; the mandibles merely tridentate; the legs longer and more robust; the tibiæ and tarsi more densely fimbriated externally, and the tarsi relatively much longer; the abdomen densely edged laterally with short curled hair, the terminal segment with three processes, the lateral ones strong and curved internally, the central one shorter and straight, and the penultimate segment transversely concave, with a strong tooth on each side curved externally, and the venter glabrous beneath.
NATIVE SPECIES.
1. manicatum, Linnæus. 5-8 lines. ([Plate XIII.] fig. 1 ♂♀.)