Insect architecture / [Anon].

  • James Rennie
Date:
1830
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Insect architecture / [Anon]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    72/444 page 54
    “« Ondi species of our little upholsterers has been — + Alle July, 1814, we found int a foot-path a great num- ‘Réaumur remarked that the cells of this bee th he found at Berey, were situated in a nor-- the mason-bee, which prefers the south. .'The servatory. With. respect to exposure, indeed, no certain rule seems applicable; for the nests of mason- bees which we found on the wall of Greenwich Park ~ faced the north-east, and we have often found car- penter-bees make choice of a similar situation. In one instance, we found carpenter-bees working in- differently on the. north-east and south-west side of the same post. 4 As we did not perceive any heaps of earth near the holes at Largs, we concluded that it must either have been carried ‘off piecemeal when they were dug, or-that they were old holes re-occupied,—(a circumstance common with bees), and that the rub- bish had been trodden down by passengers. Réau- mur, who so minutely describes. the subsequent opera- tions of the bee, says nothing respecting its excava- “ tions. One of these holes is about three inches deep, ~ gradually widening as it descends, till it assumes. the form of a small Florence flask. The interior of this is rendered smooth, uniform, and polished, in’ order * JR.
    digitised image 1
    digitised image 2
    digitised image 3