DECORATION OF HER NEST. 



27 



very short time cuts out of the bright petal on 

 which she rests, a smooth portion of a definite size. 

 She then returns home, and, by means of the 

 scissors and her legs, she 

 cuts and smooths the 

 piece until it lays quite 

 flat upon the bottom of 

 her cell. This done, she 

 flies for more, and in a 

 short time, could we 

 peep in, we might find 

 her mansion all over- 

 spread with tapestry, 

 more bright in colour, 

 and more delicate in 

 point of finish and tex- 

 ture, than human art 

 can by possibility pro- 

 duce. The apartment 

 being thus not only de- 

 corated, but rendered, 

 both to the eye and senses, warm and comfort- 

 able, she then stores up in it a quantity of pollen 

 and honey, until she has filled it to the height of 

 half an inch, when she deposits the egg, for whose 



Poppy-flower cut by the Bee. 



