HABITATIONS OF INSECTS. 437 



plies all her wants. Having deposited an egg at the 

 bottom of the cylinder along with the requisite store of 

 pollen and hone}', she next, at the height of about three 

 quarters of an inch, (which is the depth of each cell,) con- 

 structs of particles of the saw-dust glued together, and 

 also to the sides of the tunnel, what may be called an an- 

 nular stage or scaffolding. When this is sufficiently 

 hardened, its interior edge affords support for a second 

 ring of the same materials, and thus the ceiling is gradu- 

 ally formed of these concentric circles, till there remains 

 only a small orifice in its centre, which is also closed with 

 a circular mass of agglutinated particles of saw-dust. 

 When this partition, which serves as the ceiling of the 

 first cell and the flooring of the second, is finished, it is 

 about the thickness of a crown-piece, and exhibits the 

 appearance of as many concentric circles as the animal 

 has made pauses in her labour. One cell being finished, 

 she proceeds to another, which she furnishes and com- 

 pletes in the same manner, and so on until she has di- 

 vided her whole tunnel into ten or twelve apartments. 



Here, if you have followed me in this detail with the 

 interest which I wish it to inspire, a query will suggest 

 itself. It will strike you that such a laborious undertaking 

 as the constructing and furnishing these cells, cannot be 

 the work of one or even of two days. Considering that 

 every cell requires a store of honey and pollen, not to be 

 collected but with long toil, and that a considerable in- 

 terval must be spent in agglutinating the floors of each, 

 it will be very obvious to you that the last egg in the last 

 cell must be laid many days after the first. We are cer- 

 tain, therefore, that the first egg will become a grub, and 

 consequently a perfect bee, many days before the last. 



