134 INSECT ARTIZANS AND THEIR WORK 



intricates with its cut margin within the serrated 

 edge of the first and the third, and in case of a fourth 

 the fourth also is similarly placed, so that one laps 

 within the other, the edges of two of these cuttings 

 never being conterminous. The number of the 

 cuttings is apparently regulated by the drier or 

 moister condition of the substance in which the 

 tunnel is drilled. 



" Another duty has now to be performed, indeed, 

 that for which all the preceding labours were 

 undertaken — the provision for its young, wherein 

 it perpetuates its kind. . . . Having completed the 

 requisite store of honey mixed with pollen, this is 

 carried to the brush with which the under side of 

 the abdomen is furnished, by means of the posterior 

 legs. The honey and pollen are gathered from 

 different kinds of thistles, whence it acquires a 

 reddish hue, and looks almost like conserve of roses, 

 and the nest is filled with it to within a line of its 

 top ; the egg is then deposited, but the coating 

 of leaves, which encloses the cell completely, secures 

 the store from lateral absorption, although the 

 mixture is rather more fluid, consisting of a relatively 

 greater quantity of honey than is usual, excepting 

 perhaps in the case of Ceratina, and although no 

 viscous secretion is used to bind the leaves together, 

 which retain their position from merely lateral 

 pressure. 



" The cell has now to be closed, and the artificer, 

 knowing that the transverse section of the cell is 

 circular, again flies forth, and without compass, 



