'V 



On the canal in front are several insects and objects of insect fabrication, 

 such as might have been suggestive to man of the Art of Navigation. Nearest, 

 on the right, rowing itself down the current, is a Boat-fly ; on a line with it, 

 to the left, the egg-boat of a common Gnat ; and betwixt them, the raft of a 

 raft-making Spider, bearing its constructor. Closer to the rail appears the 

 diving-bell of the Diving Water- Spider. The case at the back is occupied by 

 various specimens of insect skill, and a few of the tools employed in their con- 

 struction. On the lowest shelf, to the right, is the nest of the Mason Bee, with 

 its hole of entrance ; cells, the work of a similar insect, appearing in the mortar 

 of two detached pieces of wall placed behind it. Next to these, in the compart- 

 ment adjoining, is a fragment of sand-stone, in which are several nests of 

 Mason Wasps, with the leaning or curved towers raised over them in process of 

 excavation. Beside these, is a piece of wood tunnelled, for her nurseries, by a 

 Violet Carpenter Bee, each divided into cells by partitions of cemented sawdust, 

 and stored with heaps of pollen. The perforations in the wood are openings to 

 passages which communicate with the cells. Next in order, is another specimen 

 of the same; and nearer to the left is the nest of another Bee Carpenter, also 

 tunnelled in a piece of wood, but divided by partitions of clay, instead of saw- 

 dust. The first object to the right, on the shelf above, is the cell, as constructed 

 in earth, of an Earth- Mason Caterpillar. It is open, to show the interior, 

 which is smooth, arid lined with silk for the comfort of the chrysalis which lies 

 within. Vext, on a piece of wood, and composed of detached fragments of the 



