HABITATIONS OF INSECTS. 447' 



human art and reason excelled by the teaching of the 

 Almighty''. 



Other insects besides bees construct habitations of 

 different kinds for their young, as various species of 

 Sphex, Scarabceus, «&c., which deposit their eggs in cy- 

 lindrical excavations that become the abode of the fu- 

 ture larvae. In the procedures of most of these, no- 

 thing worth particularizing occurs, but one species 

 called by Reaumur the inason-wasp, {Odj/nerus mu- 

 raria, Latr.) referred to in a former letter, works upon 

 so singular a plan, that it would be improper to pass it 

 over in silence, especially as these nests may be found 

 in this country in most sandy banks exposed to the 

 sun. This insect bores a cylindrical cavity from two 

 to three inches deep, in hard sand which its mandibles 

 alone would be scarcely capable of penetrating, were 

 it not provided with a slightly glutinous liquor which 

 it pours out of its mouth, that, like the vinegar with 

 which Hannibal softened the Alps, acts upon the ce- 

 ment of the sand, and renders the separation of the 

 grains easy to the double pickaxe with which our little 

 pioneer is furnished. But the most remarkable cir- 

 cumstance is the mode in which it disposes of the ex- 

 cavated materials. Instead of throwing them at ran- 

 dom on a heap, it carefully forms them into little ob- 

 long pellets, and arranges them round the entrance of 

 the hole so as to form a tunnel, which, when the ex- 

 cavation is completed, is often not less than two or 

 three inches in length. For the greater part of its 

 height this tunnel is upright, but towards the top it 

 bends into a curve, always however retaining its cy- 



' Reaum. vi. 91-124. Mon, Jp. AngL i. 157. Apis * *. c.2. a. 



