376 



HABITATIONS OF INSECTS. 



outside, and that which has been cut within. The little 

 animal now forms a third coating of similar materials, the 

 middle of which, as the most skilful workman would do in 

 similar circumstances, she places over the margins of those 

 that form the first tube, thus covering and strengthening 

 the junctures. Repeating the same process, she gives a 

 fourth and sometimes a fifth coating to her nest, taking care, 

 at the closed end or narrow extremity of the cell, to bend the 

 leaves so as to form a convex termination. Having thus 

 finished a cell, her next business is to fill it to within half a 

 line of the orifice with a rose-coloured conserve composed 

 of honey and pollen, usually collected from the flowers of 

 thistles ; and then having deposited her egg, she closes the ori- 

 fice with three pieces of leaf so exactly circular, that a pair 

 of compasses could not define their margin with more truth ; 

 and coinciding so precisely with the walls of the cell, as to be 

 retained in their situation merely by the nicety of their adapt- 

 ation. 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 indefatigable little animal pro- 

 ceeds until she has completed the six or seven cells which 

 compose her cylinder. 



The process which one of these bees employs in cutting 

 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 intermission in a curve line so as to detach a trian- 

 gular 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 ofl* 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, accurately accommodating the dimensions 



