NOTES BY THE WAY 



cells, built in succession in a little tunnel that had 

 been excavated in the ground. The cells, which 

 were about three quarters of an inch long and half 

 as far through, were made of sections cut from the 

 leaf of the maple, cut with the mandibles of the 

 bee, which work precisely like shears. I have seen 

 the bee at work cutting out these pieces. She moves 

 through the leaf like the hand of the tailor through 

 a piece of cloth. When the pattern is detached, she 

 rolls it up, and, embracing it with her legs, flies 

 home with it, often appearing to have a bundle 

 disproportionately large. Each cell is made up of 

 a dozen or more pieces : the larger ones, those that 

 form its walls, like the walls of a paper bag, are 

 oblong, and are turned down at one end, so as to 

 form the bottom; not one thickness of leaf merely, 

 but three or four thicknesses, each fragment of 

 leaf lapping over another. When the cell is com- 

 pleted, it is filled about two thirds full of bee-bread, 

 the color of that in the comb in the hive, but 

 not so dry, and having a sourish smell. Upon this 

 the egg is laid, and upon this the young feed when 

 hatched. Is the paper bag now tied up ? No, it 

 is headed up ; circular bits of leaves are nicely 

 fitted into it to the number of six or seven. They 

 are cut without pattern or compass, and yet they 

 are all alike, and all exactly fit. Indeed, the con- 

 struction of this cell or receptacle shows great in- 

 genuity and skill. The bee is, of course, unable 

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