A NATURALIST. 45 



possession of one such, as here glittered in thousands on 

 every herb and spray ! They are exhaled in an hour or 

 two and lost, yet they are almost daily offered to the de- 

 lighted contemplation of the real lover of nature, who is 

 ever happy to witness the beneficence of the great Crea- 

 tor, not less displayed in trivial circumstances, than the 

 most wonderful of his works. 



No particular change was discoverable in the works 

 of my little miners, except that all the places which had 

 been a second time broken down were again repaired, 

 showing that the animal had passed between the times 

 of my visit; and it may not be uninteresting to observe 

 how the repair was effected. It appeared, when the ani- 

 mal arrived at the spot broken open or exposed to the 

 air, that it changed its direction sufficiently downwards 

 to raise enough of earth from the lower surface to fill up 

 the opening; this of course slightly altered the direction 

 of the gallery at this point, and though the earth thrown 

 up was quite pulverulent, it was so nicely arched as to 

 retain its place, and soon became consolidated. Having 

 broken open a gallery where the turf was very close, and 

 the soil tenacious, I was pleased to find the direction of 

 the chamber somewhat changed ; on digging farther with 

 my clasp knife, I found a very beautiful cell excavated in 

 very tough clay, deeper than the common level of the 

 gallery and towards one side. This little lodging-room 

 would probably have held a small melon, and was nicely 

 arched all round. It was perfectly clear, and quite 



