HABITATIONS OP INSECTS, 



377 



of the several pieces of each figure to each other. What other 

 architect could carry impressed upon the tablet of his memory 

 the entire 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? Yet 

 this is what our little bee invariably does. So far are human 

 art and reason excelled by the teaching of the Almighty.^ 



Other insects besides bees construct habitations of difierent 

 kinds for their young, as various species of burrowing wasps 

 (^Fossores), Geotrupes, &c., which deposit their eggs in cylin- 

 drical excavations that become the abode of the future larvae. 

 In the procedures of most of these nothing worth particular- 

 ising occurs ; but one species, called by Reaumur the mason- 

 wasp ( Odynerus murarius), referred to in a former letter, works 

 upon so singular a plan, that it would be improper to pass it 

 over in silence, especially as these nests may be found in this 

 country in most sandy banks exposed to the sun. This insect 

 bores a cylindrical cavity from two to three inches deep, in 

 hard sand which its mandibles alone would be scarcely capable 

 of penetrating, were it not provided with a slightly glutinous 

 liquor which it pours out of its mouth, that, like the vinegar 

 with which Hannibal softened the Alps, acts upon the cement 

 of the sand, and renders the separation of the grains easy to 

 the double pickaxe with which our little pioneer is furnished. 

 But the most remarkable circumstance is the mode in which 

 it disposes of the excavated materials. Instead of throwing 

 them at random on a heap, it carefully forms them into little 

 oblong pellets, and arranges them round the entrance of the 

 hole so as to form a tunnel, which, when the excavation is 

 completed, is often not less than two or three inches in length. 

 For the greater part of its height this tunnel is upright, but 

 towards the top it bends into a curve, always, however, retaining 

 its cylindrical form. The little masses are so attached to each 

 other in this cylinder as to leave numerous vacuities between 

 them, which give it the appearance of filagree-work. You 

 will readily divine that the excavated hole is intended for the 

 reception of an egg, but for what purpose the external tunnel 



1 Reaum. vi. 971 — 24. Mon. Jp. Angl i. 157. Apis.** c. 2. a. 



