62 



INSECT ARCHITECTURE. 



cisely the same thickness. The interior surface of 

 each cell consists of three pieces of leaf, of equal size, 

 narrow at one end, but gradually widening at the 

 other, where the width equals half the length. One 

 side of each of the pieces is the serrated margin of 

 the leaf from which it was cut, and this margin is 

 always placed outermost, and the cut margin inner- 

 most. Like most insects, she builds from the inte- 

 rior, beginning with a layer of tapestry, which is 

 composed of three or four oval pieces, larger in 

 dimensions than the rest, adding a second and a 

 third layer proportionately smaller. In forming 

 these, she is careful not to place a joining opposite to 

 a joining, but with all the skill of a consummate ar- 

 tificer, lays the middle of each piece of leaf over the 

 margins of the others, so as by this means both to 

 cover and strengthen the junctions. By repeating 

 this process, she sometimes firms a fourth or fifth 

 layer of leaves, taking care to bend the leaves at the 

 narrow extremity or closed end of the cell, so as to 

 bring them into a convex shape. 



When she has in this manner completed a cell, her 

 next business is to replenish it with a store of honey 

 and pollen, which, being chiefly collected from thistles, 

 forms a beautiful rose-coloured conserve. In this 

 she deposites a single egg, and then covers* in the 

 opening with three pieces of leaf, so exactly circular, 

 that a pair of compasses could not define their mar- 

 gin with more accuracy. In this manner the indus- 

 trious and ingenious upholsterer proceeds till the 

 whole gallery is filled, the convex extremity of the 

 one fitting into the open end of the next, and serving 

 both as a basis and as the means of strengthening 

 it. If, by any accident, the labour of these insects is 

 interrupted or the edifice deranged, they exhibit 

 astonishing perseverance in setting it again to rights. 



