THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 197 



ishes its movements become more free. The aliment has 

 been wisely proportioned to its wants ; the life of the larva 

 terminates at the moment when famine is about to set in. 

 The chrysalis rests imprisoned in its little chamber, but 

 when the fly has thrown off its coverings air and light are 

 absolutely requisite for it. It then gnaws the partitions 

 which intercept its way, and commits itself to the air, soon 

 in its turn to commence labors similar to those its mother 

 executed. Such is its destiny. 1 



1 The English carpenter-bee is far inferior in skill to this insect, the beautiful 

 violet Xylocopa (Xylocopa violacea) of English naturalists, which bores a tunnel 

 twelve times the length of her body without leaving any chips, and fixes her 

 shelves so finely that a number of fragments are as solid as one piece. It can, 

 however, scarcely be said that either of these insects excels the poppy-bee and 

 the rose-leaf cutter either in skill or taste. 



The poppy-bee (Osmia papaveris, Latreille) excavates a hole three inches 

 deep in the ground, which it smooths, polishes, and then hangs with the flower 

 leaves of the scarlet poppy, laid down with such skill that they are as smooth as 

 glass, although when we cut them with scissors, and take the greatest care with 

 them, it is almost impossible to keep them from wrinkling. The rose-leaf cutter 

 (Megachile centuncularis, Latreille) requires circular pieces of rose-leaf to line 

 her nest, so she cuts out the portion she wants as quickly as we could do with 

 scissors, and much more neatly. Not to impede her progress, she keeps the cut 

 portion between her legs, using her body as a trammel. When she has nearly 

 completed this part of her task, she poises herself on her wings, lest the weight 

 of her body should tear off the piece prematurely. Then taking the piece to the 

 cell, she fixes it to the inside, solely by calculating upon the natural spring of the 

 leaf, and so adapts the pieces that the middle of one always overlies a join in the 

 others. Finally, having stored the cell with pollen and honey, she deposits an 

 egg, and covers the opening with three pieces of rose-leaf, so exactly circular 

 that they could not be more accurately drawn with compasses. Tr. 



