IN FEATHERS AND FUR. 140 
she has thirty or forty of them, too. But they are better behaved 
than chickens, and they keep close to their mother. 
I'm afraid you think of Spiders as cruel, fierce creatures, 
because you feel sorry for the buzzing flies they catch in their webs. 
But I hope you'll think better of them, when I tell you that they 
are most affectionate mothers, and will allow themselves to be torn 
to pieces before they will abandon their babies. 
One Spider mother carries her eggs around in a white silk bag, 
as large as a pea. She never lays it down, and she will fight for it 
as long as she has life. When they are hatched, they are tiny mites 
of Spiders, not grubs, and they hang around their mother, climb on 
her back in crowds, cling to her long legs, even get on her head. 
She carries them about wherever she goes. Funny enough she 
looks, too. Why, she's worse off than the unfortunate old woman 
who lived in a shoe. 
What would you think of thimble-shaped cradles for a Bee 
baby? One little mother makes them in that shape. First she 
digs a place in dry ground, then makes one thimble, fills it with 
honey and pollen from the flowers, and puts one egg on it. Then 
she fits another thimble into that, just as you would slip one thim- 
ble into another, only they don't go in very far. The second one 
stops up the door of the first ; so she goes on till she has half a 
dozen or so, and then she fills the hole with dirt. 
Another very careful and thoughtful little mother Bee w r raps 
her babies in flannel, to keep them warm. She gets her flannel, or 
what looks like flannel, from the leaves cf some trees, which are 
woolly. The wise men call her the Clothier Bee. 
If you think that's a funny name, what do you think of 
Carpenter Bee, and Mason Bee ? The carpenter cuts her baby house 
out of wood ; and the mason builds hers with bricks, which she 
makes by gluing together grains of sand. 
The gayest of all, however, is the nursery of the Upholster 
Bee. This neat little mother first makes a suitable hole in the 
ground, and carefully smooths the walls. Then she flies to some 
poppy, or rose bush, and selecting the brightest blossoms she can 
find, always scarlet, she cuts out little round pieces of the gay 
flower, and with them completely lines her nursery. She puts two 
or three thicknesses, to make it warm. 
I think this Bee baby, must belong to the royal family, with its 
dainty scarlet hangings, and delicate food of honey. 
