HABITATIONS OF INSECTS. 443 



genius than labour and patience : but it is far otherwise 

 with the nests of the last tribe of artificers amongst wild 

 bees, to which I shall advert — the hangers of tapestry, 

 or upholsterers — those which line the holes excavated 

 in the earth for the reception of their young, vvith an 

 elegant coating of flowers or of leaves. Amongst the 

 most interesting of these is Apis Papaveris, (Megachile, 

 Latr., Antliophora^ F.) a species whose manners have 

 been admirably described by Reaumur. This little bee, 

 as though fascinated with the colour most attractive to 

 our eyes, invariably chooses for the hangings of her 

 apartments the most brilliant scarlet, selecting for its 

 material the flowers of the wild poppy, which she dex- 

 terously cuts into the proper form. Her first process 

 is to excavate in some pathway a burrow, 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 

 ceil ; and though separated from the wrinkled petal of 

 a half-expanded flower, she know s how to straighten 

 their folds, and, if too large, to fit them for her pur- 

 pose by cutting off the superfluous parts. Beginning 

 at the bottom, she overlays the walls of her mansion 

 with this brilliant tapestry, extending it also on the sur- 

 face 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 tv»'o. The littl j upholsterer, 

 having completed the hangings of her apartment, next 

 fills it with pollen and honey to the height of about half 

 an inch ; then, after committing an egs, to it, she wraps 



