82 MATERNAL UPHOLSTERERS. 



flow from that fountain-head of all virtues a mother's heart. 

 The old divine tells us that " the best disposed [to bounty] 

 may need a remembrance ;" quaintly adding, " I am sure the 

 nightingale which would wake will not be angry with the 

 thorn which pricketh her breast when she noddeth." 



Now, as some " nodders " there doubtless are, even on the 

 maternal nest, some who, possessing, perhaps, all the tender- 

 ness of the dove, think it sufficient merely to keep their nest- 

 lings warm, and display none of the wisdom of the serpent in 

 providing for their future wants those, especially, of the 

 hungry mind ; to such parents a few patterns of laborious 

 activity exerted prospectively for their offspring's welfare by 

 mothers of the insect race, may serve as gently pricking 

 " thorns," while to others they may be pleasant to look upon 

 as a cluster of wild roses, gathered in a soil which they may 

 have little expected to produce them. 



The subject of our opening lines the Poppy Bee belongs 

 to one of those solitary, that is to say, not social, tribes which, 

 from their ingenious manner of fitting up or furnishing their 

 nests, have acquired the name of " Upholsterers" or " Leaf- 

 cutters ;" the peculiar designation of " Poppy " being derived 

 from the material employed for her work by this particular 

 species. It is doubted by Kirby and Spence whether the 

 poppy bee is a native of Britain ; but the author of " Insect 

 Architecture"* is almost certain of having seen the nests of 



* Reniiie. 



