NATURAL HISTORY. 23 



with little round thin pieces of something like 

 paper, about as thick as a wafer, fastened in 

 it by their edges, one above the other, all the 

 way through. These show the work of the 

 carpenter-bee : she bored the hole, and she put 

 those little partitions like paper in it, to sepa- 

 rate the cells ; and more than that, she made 

 the partitions out of the dust she got by bor- 

 ing. She always likes, too, to get a piece of 

 wood in a place where the sun can shine on 

 it ; and when she has made her choice, she 

 begins to bore at first into the post in a slant- 

 ing direction, and as soon as she has gone 

 far enough in, she then turns and bores 

 straight, with the grain of the wood." 



" Does she do it quickly, Uncle Philip V 



" Not very quickly, for sometimes the wood 

 is very hard ; I have seen one of these holes 

 nearly twelve inches long in a very hard oak 

 board. Sometimes she has to work at it for 

 months ; but she works steadily, boys, and 

 that does a great deal. What makes it more 

 tiresome is, that the poor little creature has to 

 bring out all the dust she makes by boring." 



"How large is the hole?" 



" Oh, large enough to put my forefinger in, 

 and sometimes fifteen inches long. After she 

 has bored it as deep as is necessary, she begins 



