Bramble-bees and Others 



place In position the thousand and one pieces 

 which the Silky Leaf-cutter employs for her 

 nest? Time would fail her, even as it would 

 fail a Megachile, who, lacking the Capri- 

 corn's chamber, had herself to dig a home in 

 the trunk of the oak. Therefore, the Car- 

 penter-bee, after the tedious work of boring, 

 gets the installation done in the most sum- 

 mary fashion, simply running up a saw-dust 

 partition. 



The two things, the laborious business of 

 obtaining a lodging and the artistic work of 

 furnishing, seem unable to go together. With 

 the insect as with man, he who builds the 

 house does not furnish it, he who furnishes 

 it does not build it. To each his share, be- 

 cause of lack of time. Division of labour, 

 the mother of the arts, makes the workman 

 excel in his department; one man for the 

 whole work would mean stagnation, the 

 worker never getting beyond his first crude 

 attempts. Animal Industry Is a little like our 

 own : It does not attain Its perfection save with 

 the aid of obscure toilers, who, without know- 

 ing It, prepare the final masterpiece. I see 

 no other reason for this need of a gratuitous 

 lodging for the Megachlles' leafy baskets or 



376 



