284 NATURALIST'S CABINET. 



Walls Columns Cells, &c. of the nest. 



building. Returning to their nest with their 

 load of paste, they stick it on that part where 

 they are at work, tread it close with their feet, and 

 trowel it with their trunks, moving backwards as 

 they work. This operation being repeated three 

 or four times, the composition is at length flatted 

 out, till it becomes a leaf much finer than paper, 

 of a pretty firm texture and a grey colour. In 

 this manner they proceed till they have finished 

 the large dome which secures them from the 

 falling in of the earth. When the walls are com- 

 pleted, the cells, formed of the same paper-like 

 substance,' next claim their atlention. These 

 are arranged horizontally in different stories, 

 sometimes twelve or fifteen above each other; 

 each being supported by colonnades, between 

 which the citizens of this subterraneous com- 

 mon-wealth can walk with the same convenience 

 as men in the streets of a town. The columns 

 are very strong and compact, and larger at each 

 end than in the middle. The cells, though not 

 contructed with that geometrical accuracy which 

 has been so much admired in those of the bee, 

 are yet equally adapted to the purposes for which 

 they are intended. Each comb has only a single 

 range of cells, with the mouth opening below. 

 They are destined, not for the reception of ho- 

 ney, but for the habitation of the young, which 

 are produced from an egg which the female drops 

 into each cell, and sticks in with a kind of gum- 

 my matter to prevent its falling out, The egg 



