LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 127 
Its unsteadiness disquieted the humble bees ex- 
tremely. Their affection for their young led 
them to mount upon the cocoons for the sake of 
imparting warmth to the inclosed little ones ; but 
in attempting this, the comb tottered so violently, 
that the scheme was almost impracticable. To 
remedy this inconvenience, and to make the comb 
steady, they had recourse to a most ingenious 
expedient. Two or three bees got upon the 
comb, stretched themselves over its edge, and 
with their heads downwards, fixed their fore 
feet on the table on which it stood, whilst with 
their hind feet they kept it from falling. In this 
constrained and painful posture, fresh bees re- 
lieving their comrades when weary, did these 
affectionate little insects support the comb for 
nearly three days ! At the end of this period 
they had prepared enough wax, with which they 
built pillars that kept it firm ; by some accident 
the comb was again unsettled, and they performed 
the same manoeuvre till M. Huber took com- 
passion on them and propped it up. 
There is a solitary bee which I shall mention 
first as having apparently an elegant taste. 
Reaumur calls her the tapestry bee. She in- 
variably chooses for the hangings of her cell the 
leaves of the bright scarlet poppy, and seems to 
