. . .But it will not work one stroke where it can avoid the necessity, and in many cases, it contrives to avoid work with much ingenuity.

Lying hidden under hedges, bushes, grass, and herbage, are sure to be shells of various snails, such as the common garden-snail, and the banded-snail, whose diversified shell is the delight of children. These shells the bee thinks are as good as ready-made burrows, and she uses them accordingly.

She goes to the end of the shell, carrying her materials with her, and then builds a cell, and fills it with pollen and [48] honey. Another cell is then made, and yet another, until the shell is nearly filled. As the shell widens, the Osmia places two cells side by side, and when the insect has worked within a short distance of the mouth, she places the cells horizontally, so as to fill up the space. There are several specimens of these curious habitations in the British Museum.

When the whole series of cells is complet. . . Read More