16 INSECT ARCHITECTURE. 



select the brilliant petals of the poppy from their co- 

 lour, or from any other quality they may possess, 

 of softness or of warmth, for instance. Re'uumur 

 thinks that the largeness, united with the flexibility 

 of the poppy-leaves, determines her choice. Yet it 

 is not improbable that her eye may be gratified by 

 the appearance of her nest ; — that she may possess 

 a feeling of the beautiful in colour, and may look 

 with complacency upon the delicate hangings of the 

 apartment which she destines lor her offspring. 

 Why should not an insect be supposed to have a 

 glimmering of the value of ornament ? How can we 

 pronounce, from our limited notion of the mode in 

 which the inferior animals think and act, that their 

 gratifications are wholly bounded by the positive 

 utility of the objects which surround them? Why 

 does a dog howl at the sound of a bugle, but because 

 it offends his organs of hearing? — and why, there- 

 fore, may not a bee feel gladness in the brilliant hues 

 of her scarlet drapery, because they are grateful to 

 her organs of sight? All these little creatures work, 

 probably, with more neatness and finish than is 

 absolutely essential for comfort; and this circum- 

 stance alone would imply that they have something 

 of taste to exhibit, which produces to them a plea- 

 surable emotion. 



The tapestry-bee is, however, content with orna- 

 menting the interior only of the nest which she forms 

 for her progeny. She does not misplace her embel- 

 lishments with the error of some human artists. She 

 desires security as well as elegance ; and, therefore, 

 she leaves no external traces of her operations. Her's 

 is not a mansion rich with columns and friezes with- 

 out, but cold and unfurnished within, like the deso- 

 late palaces of Venice. She covers her tapestry 

 quite round with the common earth; and leaves her 

 eggs enclosed in their poppy-case with a certainty 



