26 THE LIFE OF AN INSECT. 



of our ramble we were exclusively occupied in 

 searching for similar holes. It is a common obser- 

 vation, that when a fact, which has not hitherto 

 been recognised among those presented to us in 

 nature, is once caught sight of, we are almost sure 

 to see it again and again, until we wonder how it 

 could have been that it was never noticed before. 

 We therefore now found other holes, leading to 

 similar tubes, formed in the same manner of the 

 flowers of the red poppy. Altogether, before re- 

 turning home, we found seven or eight of them ; 

 and since that time, I have found them in all their 

 different stages." These elegantly decorated 

 apartments w ere subsequently found to belong to 

 the tapestry-bee. 



This bee, in forming the future abode of her 

 young, begins by scooping out a burrow in some 

 pathway, which she bores to the depth of two or 

 three inches. She then smooths the walls of this 

 cavity, and all being now ready for putting up 

 the hangings, she betakes herself to the fields, and 

 alights upon some fresh-expanded poppy flower, 

 just displaying its crimson cheeks to the light of 

 day. Here she quickly plies the scissors which 

 she has been armed with for this purpose, and in a 



