206 



THE UNIVERSE. 



one from that next to it. In the long excavation which 

 it has hollowed out the insect thus forms a dozen little 

 cellules, which are stuffed with alimentary pap. 



When the little creature is born, it finds itself suffi- 

 ciently restricted as to space, but in proportion as its food 

 diminishes, its movements become more free. The aliment 

 has been wisely proportioned to its wants; the life of the 

 larva terminates at the moment Avhen famine is aljout to 



123. Carpenter-bee and its Little Chambers. 



set in. The chrysalis rests imprisoned in its little chamber, 

 but when the fly has thrown off its coverings, air and light 

 are absolutely requisite for it. It then gnaws the parti- 

 tions which intercept its way, and launches itself into the 

 atmosphere, soon in its turn to commence labours similar 

 to those its mother executed. Such is its destiny.^ 



1 The English carpeuter-bee is far inferior in skill to this insect, the beautiful 

 violet Xylocopa {Xijlocopa violacea of English naturalists), which bores a tunnel 



