166 ZOOLOGY. 



may visit each in turn, under shelter and under ground, 

 protected from accidents and sheltered from the inclemency 

 of the weather. The bee, of which we shall presently speak, 

 labours in this direction, laying up ample store of provisions 

 for winter. 



324. Amongst the preservative instincts, as they may 

 be called, is the art of constructing dwellings without either 

 model or instruction. The silkworm spins a cocoon, in which 

 it remains as a larva, until ready to become a butterfly. The 

 rabbit forms its warren, and the beaver its well-known habi- 

 tation. The hamster (Fig. 119), a small rodent analogous 

 to the rat, met with in the plains from Alsace to Siberia, and 

 which is so injurious to agriculture, constructs a dwelling 

 with two issues or exits ; the one oblique, by which it throws 



Fig. 119. The Hamster. 



out the loose earth produced by its excavations ; the other, 

 perpendicular, is the way by which it enters and leaves its 

 dwelling. These galleries lead to a certain number of cir- 

 cular excavations communicating with each other by hori- 

 zontal passages ; one of these cells, furnished with dried grass, 

 is the dwelling of the hamster ; the others are intended to 

 serve as magazines of provisions, which it collects in consi- 

 derable quantities. 



Some spiders (my gale) construct works like those of the 

 hamster, but more complicated ; for they not only construct 

 a vast and commodious dwelling, but know how to shut it in 

 by means of a covering or doorway, furnished with a hinge. 

 On the side opposite to the hinge are a number of small 

 openings, into which the animal, introducing its claws, holds 

 the covering secure when an enemy attempts to open it. The 

 exterior of the doorway of this den, as it may be called, is left 



