378 THE LEAF-CUTTING BEE. 



of which they are made are not glued together, nor 

 are they any otherwise fastened than in the nicety 

 of their adjustment to each other; and vet they do 

 not admit the liquid honey to drain through them. 

 The interior surface of each ceil consists of three 

 pieces of leaf, ot equal size, narrow at one end, but 

 gradually widening to the other, where the width 

 equals half the length. One side of each of these 

 pieces is the serrated margin of the leaf from which 

 it was cut. In forming the cell, the pieces of leaf 

 are made to lap one over the other (the serrated 

 side always outermost) till a tube is thus formed 

 coated with three, four, or more layers. In coating 

 these tubes, the provident little animal is careful to 

 lay the middle of each piece of leaf over the mar- 

 gins of others, so as by this means both to cover 

 and strengthen the junctions. At the closed or 

 narrow end of the cell, the leaves are bent down so 

 as to form a convex termination. When a cell is 

 formed, the next care of the Bee is to fill it with 

 honey and pollen, which, being collected chiefly 

 from the thistles, form a rose-coloured paste. With 

 these it is filled to within about half a line of the 

 orifice \ and she then deposits in it an cgs;, and 

 closes it with three perfectly circular pieces ot leaf, 

 which coincide so exactly with the walls of the 

 cylindrical cell, as to be retained in their situation 

 without any gluten. After this covering is fitted 

 in, there still remains a hollow which receives the 

 convex end of the succeeding cell. In this manner 

 the patient and indefatigable animal proceeds till 

 her whole cylinder of six or seven cells is completed, 

 1 



