24 THE LIFE OF AN INSECT. 



Plainly, therefore, her actions are all directed by 

 an impulse given her from God, and we may well 

 exclaim with the wise king of old, it is God who 

 " doth instruct her to discretion, and doth teach 

 her." Altogether, what an example of patience 

 and cheerfulness in her labours, and of admirable 

 wisdom in their performance, is presented to 

 us by this little sketch of the history of the 

 carpenter-bee's nest ! 



Among the birds discovered in Australia, is one 

 called the Bower-bird, from its fondness for making 

 a bower, which it ornaments in a very pretty 

 manner. Other instances of a somewhat similar 

 kind could be mentioned, tending to show that 

 some of the lower animals are as fond of decorating 

 their dwellings as we are ourselves. There is, how- 

 ever, in the insect world, a little creature which has 

 been called the tapestry-bee, which adorns the 

 place where its progeny is to be born with a tapestry 

 as novel as it is elegant. The great entomologist 

 whom we have before quoted, thus describes his 

 first discovery of this interesting fact : <f In one 

 of my rambles, which had led me through several 

 lanes, and in the course of which I had frequently 

 stopped to examine the little tunnels pierced in 



