446 HABITATIONS OF INSECTS. 



the nicety of their adaptation. After this covering is 

 fitted in, there remains still a concavity which receives 

 the convex end of the succeeding cell; and in this man- 

 ner the indefatigable liitle animal proceeds until she 

 lias completed the six or seven cells which compose her 

 cylinder. 



The process which one of these bees employs in cut- 

 ting the pieces of leaf that compose her nest is worthy 

 of attention. Nothing can be more expeditious: she 

 is not longer about it than we should be with a pair of 

 scissors. After hovering for some moments over a rose- 

 bush, as if to reconnoitre the ground, the bee alights 

 upon the leaf which she has selected, usually taking 

 her station upon its edge so that the margin passes be- 

 tween her legs. With her strong mandibles she cuts 

 without intermission in a curve line so as to detach a 

 triangular portion. When this hangs by the last fibre, 

 lest its weight should carry her to the ground, she ba- 

 lances her little wings for flight, and the very moment 

 it parts from the leaf flies off with it in triumph; the 

 detached portion remaining bent bet\> een her legs in 

 a direction perpendicular to her body. Thus without 

 rule or compasses do these diminutive creatures mete 

 out the materials of their work into portions of an el- 

 lipse, into ovals or circles, accurately accommodating 

 the dimensions of the several pieces of each figure to 

 each other. What other architect could carry im- 

 pressed upon the tablet of his memory the entire idea 

 of the edifice which he has to erect, and, destitute of 

 square or plumb-line, cut out his materials in their ex- 

 act dimensions without making a single mistake ? Yet 

 this is what our little bee invariably does. So far are 



