HABITATIONS OF INSECTS. 441. 



for the hangings of her apartments the most brilliant 

 scarlet, selecting for its material the petals of the wild 

 poppy, which she dexterously cuts into the proper form. 

 Her first process is to excavate in'^ome pathway a bur- 

 row, cylindrical at the entrance but swelled out below, 

 to the depth of about three inches. Having polished 

 the walls of this little apartment, she next flies to a 

 neighbouring field, cuts out oval portions of the flowers 

 of poppies, seizes them between her legs and returns with 

 them to her cell; and though separated from the wrinkled 

 petal of a half-expanded flower, she knows how to 

 straighten their folds, and, if too large, to fit them for 

 her purpose by cutting off the superfluous parts. Be- 

 ginning at the bottom, she overlays the walls of her man- 

 sion with this brilliant tapestry, extending it also on the 

 surface of the ground round the margin of the orifice. 

 The bottom is rendered warm by three or four coats, 

 and the sides have never less than two. The little 

 upholsterer, having completed the hangings of her apart- 

 ment, next fills it with pollen and honey to the height of 

 about half an inch ; then, after committing an egg to it, 

 she wraps over the poppy lining so that even the roof 

 may be of this material ; and lastly closes its mouth with 

 a small hillock of earth =>. The great depth of the cell 

 compared with the space which the single egg and the 

 accompanying food deposited in it occupy, deserves par- 

 ticular notice. This is not more than half an incli at the 

 bottom, the remaining two inches and a half being sub- 

 sequently filled with earth. — When you next favour me 

 with a visit, I can show you the cells of this interesting 

 insect as yet unknown to British entomologists, for which 



' Rcauin. vi. 139-148. 



