NATURAL HISTORY. 31 



trees. The little creature cuts them com- 

 monly, and I believe always, into two shapes. 

 They are either half-oval, that is, half the 

 shape of the bowl of a spoon, or round, and 

 are of different sizes. Sometimes she makes 

 a mistake in the size, and when she finds it 

 out, she alters it. These leaves are prepared 

 to line the hole which she has bored, and she 

 begins with the largest pieces ; taking them 

 into the hole, she winds around in it, until 

 she has spread very smoothly a tube of leaves 

 the whole length of it ; she then closes up 

 one end of it by rounding it off and doubling 

 the pieces of leaf one over another. In this 

 case she sets about making her cells. She 

 takes thrae of her half-oval pieces which have 

 been cut to fit, and contrives to roll them, so 

 that the edge of one piece will just lap over 

 the edge of the next ; these, when she has fin- 

 ished rolling them, make the hollow of the 

 cell, which is not quite an inch high. She 

 next turns up the ends of these pieces, which 

 are cut to fit, so as to form the bottom : she 

 then sets to work with three other pieces 

 rolled in the same way inside of the cell just 

 finished, turning up their ends as before to 

 form the bottom ; and within these she again 



