NEST OF THE POPPY BEE. 83 



her species in Scotland. We shall give from the latter an 

 interesting description of a tunnelled nursery, formed, and 

 hung, and furnished by one of these little maternal artificers. 



" 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 excavation is rendered 

 smooth, uniform, and polished, in order to adapt it to the 

 tapestry with which it is intended to be hung, and which is 

 the next step in the process. 



" The material used for tapestry by this insect upholsterer 

 is supplied by the flower-leaves of the scarlet field-poppy, from 

 which she successively cuts off small oval pieces, seizes them 

 between her legs, and conveys them to the nest. She begins 

 her work at the bottom, which she overlays with three or four 

 leaves in thickness, and the sides have never less than two. 

 When she finds that the piece she has brought is too large to 

 fit the place intended, she cuts off what is superfluous and 

 carries away the shreds. By cutting the fresh petal of a poppy 

 with a pair of scissors, we may perceive the difficulty of 

 keeping the piece free from wrinkles and shrivelling ; but the 

 bee knows how to spread the pieces which she uses as smooth 

 as glass. 



" When she has in this manner hung the little chamber 

 round with this splendid scarlet tapestry, of which she is not 

 sparing, but extends it even beyond the entrance, she then 

 fills it with the pollen of flowers mixed with honey, to the 



