446 HABITATIONS OF INSECTS. 



cell, as to be retained in their situation merely by the 

 nicety of their adaptation. After this covering is fitted in, 

 there remains still a concavity which receives the convex 

 end of the succeeding cell ; and in this manner the inde- 

 fatigable little animal proceeds until she has completed 

 the six or seven cells which compose her cylinder. 



The process which one of these bees employs in cut- 

 ting the pieces of leaf that compose her nest is worthy of 

 attention. Nothing can be more expeditious : she is not 

 longer about it than we should be with a pair of scissors. 

 After hovering for some moments over a rose-bush, as 

 if to reconnoitre the ground, the bee alights upon the 

 leaf which she has selected, usually taking her station 

 upon its edge so that the margin passes between her legs. 

 With her strong mandibles she cuts without intermis- 

 sion in a curve line so as to detach a triangular portion. 

 When this hangs by the last fibre, lest its weight should 

 carry her to the ground, she balances- her little wings for 

 flight, and the very moment it parts from the leaf flies 

 off with it in triumph ; the detached portion remaining 

 bent between her legs in a direction perpendicular to 

 her body. Thus without rule or compasses do these 

 diminutive creatures mete out the materials of their work 

 into portions of an ellipse, into ovals or circles, accu- 

 rately accommodating the dimensions of the several pieces 

 of each figure to each other. What other architect could 

 carry impressed upon the tablet of his memory the en- 

 tire idea of the edifice which he has to erect, and, desti- 

 tute of square or plumb-line, cut out his materials in 

 their exact dimensions without making a single mistake ? 



