TAILORING ANIMALS 



is alleged, habitually placed upon the outside. The 

 elasticity of the cutting causes it to cling to the walls, 

 and when a dozen pieces, more or less, are laid in and 

 overlapped a small, thimble-shaped cell is formed. Into 

 this the mother drops an egg and puts a bit of bee- 

 bread, and seals up the cell with a cutting or two. Like 

 cells are added until they are lengthened out into a 

 chamber two or three inches long. Other chambers 

 follow, the mother placing half a dozen cells in every 

 one, until her maternal zeal is satisfied, which, at times, 

 is not mitil several separate rooms are tapestried. This 

 feat, in the number of pieces cut and placed, rivals that 

 of our grandam's patchwork quilts. For the bee may 

 cut and carry and drape a thousand pieces ere her task 

 is done. 



These are some examples of work wi'ought in nature 

 by what have been called — by courtesy, if the reader so 

 please — the tailoring animals. All have methods that 

 suggest, at least, the human tailor's cult. If sewing be 

 defined as the art of joming together separate pieces of 

 pliable material by means of threads, then the tailor 

 bird and the spider may be said to "sew." If, again, we 

 define tailoring as the art of clothing the body with 

 various fabrics, the silkworm, the bagworm, and many 

 other insect larvae are natural tailors. It is true that 

 the leaf-cutter bee produces her tapestry effects without 

 the aid of threads; but so does the human garment- 

 cutter, the ranking member of the tailor's guild. 



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