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ceived, but the design of the rasps would not be discovered with- 

 out seeing and closely observing the progress of the operation in 

 its different stages. They seem to be intended to comminute and 

 divide the rough ligneous fibres furrowed up by the saws, and thus 

 prepare a softer and smoother bed for the eggs. While the female 

 is sawing away the sides, and rasping up the ends of the fibres 

 below, she withdraws the instrument occasionally and reinserts it, 

 till she shall have penetrated the full length of the incision, in a 

 direction obliquely downwards, towards the pith, which is never 

 touched, because it would not be a proper nidus, and a deeper cut 

 would weaken the ligneous fibre, and it would be easier broken. 

 As soon as the opening is made deep enough, she enlarges it exter- 

 nally, by plying the saws along its sides and the rasps to the top 

 and bottom. She now withdraws the instrument for a moment, 

 and reinserts it to its full length, depositing two eggs in quick suc- 

 cession. She withdraws it again, reinserts it, and deposites two 

 more, till she shall have laid from ten to twenty, but never an odd 

 number. The number in a single fissure depends on the size of the 

 perforation, and that on the bough which may be crooked, knotty, 

 or otherwise defective 3 or occasionally rotten in the middle. The 

 eggs are set uniformly in two rows, close together, their ends in- 

 clining downwards. They are one twelfth of an inch long, and 

 one sixteenth in diameter, tapering to an obtuse point. They are 

 of a pearl-like white. She is about fifteen minutes in preparing a 

 single nidus and depositing the eggs; but it is not uncommon for 

 her to make fifteen or twenty fissures in the same limb, more or less, 

 according to its fitness. She frequently shifts from one limb to 

 another, and from tree to tree, before she can deposite all her eggs, 

 the whole number of which varies from four to five hundred. She 

 seldom selects a limb more than a quarter of an inch in diameter, 

 though often a smaller one. Both the upper and lower sides are 

 sometimes perforated, but never directly opposite to each other. 

 The age and texture of the wood seem to be disregarded. A 

 thorny or abruptly crooked bough seems to annoy her in searching 

 for a place of entry. We were amused by the maneouvres and 

 apparent disappointment of several that had lighted upon a flourish- 



