UPHOLSTERERS 133 



as rapidly as he cuts out a profile, does this ingenious 

 little creature ply the tools it is furnished with by 

 nature. The oval or semicircular cutting being 

 thus speedily dispatched, with the legs still clinging 

 to the surfaces, the insect biting its way backwards, 

 the piece cut off necessarily remains within the 

 clutch of the legs, and when about falling the 

 rejoicing labourer expands her wings and flies off 

 with it with a hum of delightful triumph, the 

 cutting being carried perpendicularly to her body. 



" In a direct line she wings her way to the recep- 

 tacle, and arrived at the mouth of the aperture 

 within which she has to convey it, she rolls it to its 

 requisite tubular form and thrusts it forward to 

 the bottom of the cavity. The first piece for the 

 lining of the cell is always oval and larger in pro- 

 portion to the succeeding ones, which, to the number 

 of three or four, are semicircular, the first piece 

 having an extra use to serve in forming a concave 

 bottom to the cavity. 



" Having completed the requisite manipulation 

 for adjusting to shape the external lining of the 

 bottom and sides of the first cell, she withdraws 

 backwards, again flies off, and, as if she had traced 

 a trail in the air, . . . back she wends to the same 

 plant, and proximately to the spot of her recent 

 triumphant exploit renews the operation, but the 

 result of which, this time, is to be semicircular. 

 Home she flies again, and the arrangement within 

 of this piece is different [from] that of the first, 

 for this is simply tubular, and so placed that it 



