HABITATIONS OF INSECTS. 443 



genius than labour and patience : but it is far otherwise 

 with the nests of the last tribe of artificers amongst wild 

 bees, to which I shall advert — the hangers of tapestry, 

 or upholsterers — those which line the holes excavated 

 in the earth for the reception of their young, with an ele- 

 gant coating of flowers or of leaves. Amongst the most 

 interesting of these is Apis Papaveris, (Megachile, Latr. 

 Anthophcra, F.) a species whose manners have been ad- 

 mirably described by Reaumur. This little bee, as though 

 fascinated with the colour most attractive to our eyes, 

 invariably chooses for the hangings of her apartments 

 the most brilliant scarlet, selecting for its material the 

 petals of the wild poppy, which she dexterously cuts 

 into the proper form. Her first process is to excavate 

 in some pathway a burrow, cylindrical at the entrance 

 but swelled out below, to the depth of about three inches. 

 Having polished the walls of this little apartment, she 

 next flies to a neighbouring field, cuts out oval portions 

 of the flowers of poppies, seizes them between her legs 

 and returns with them to her cell ; and though separated 

 from the wrinkled petal of a halt-expanded flower, she 

 knows how to straighten their folds, and, if too large, to 

 fit them for her purpose by cutting off the superfluous 

 parts. Beginning at the bottom, she overlays the walls 

 of her mansion with this brilliant tapestry, extending it 

 also on the surface of the ground round the margin of 

 the orifice. The bottom is rendered warm by three or 

 four coats, and the sides have never less than two. The 

 little upholsterer, having completed the hangings of her 

 apartment, next fills it with pollen and honey to the 

 height of about half an inch ; then, after committing an 



