ACCOUNT OF HUBER. 55 



form her ovals and her circles, knowing that the elastic 

 property of the leaves will retain them in their position 

 making her nest of equal strength throughout by the most 

 rational adjustment of each distinct part demands from us 

 something more than mere wonder; for such an exercise of 

 instinctive ingenuity at once directs our admiration to the 

 Great Contriver, who has so admirably proportioned her 

 knowledge to her necessities."* One year a Mason Beef 

 made its nest in the lock of the garden door, and filled all 

 the wards with her cells. I am very partial to bees, and 

 have purchased some of the newly-invented hives, by means 

 of which the honey may be taken without destroying the 

 bees. By opening a valve in the top of the hive, a current of 

 air is admitted, which causes the bees immediately to forsake 

 the hive, and the honey can be taken without their suffering 

 any injury. 



MRS. F. 



These hives must be, indeed, a source of great pleasure to 

 every benevolent naturalist, for it seems a cruel fate to await 

 these poor little industrious creatures at the close of their 

 successful labors; and so impossible have I found it to recon- 

 cile their destruction to my feelings, that I have never kept 

 bees myself, though the writings of Huber have so much 

 interested me in their economy, that I should have liked to 

 have watched them more closely. 



ESTHER. 



Was not Huber blind, mamma"? 



Yes, from an early age. Huber is a beautiful example of 

 cheerfulness and resignation under the most afflicting trials ; 

 and the patience and sagacity with which, under such appa- 

 rently invincible obstacles, he pursued the study of nature, is 

 a fine lesson to us how perseverance and intelligence may 



* Insect Architecture, p. 63. 

 t Megaclule rauraria. 



