Insect architecture / [Anon].

  • James Rennie
Date:
1830
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Insect architecture / [Anon]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    cuttings of leaves (not petals), neatly folded together, the bottom of one thimble-shaped cell being inserted into the mouth of the one. below it, and so on in suc- cession. this bee procures “the materials for forming the tapes- try of her cells. The leaf of the rose-tree seems to be that which she prefers, though she sometimes takes other sorts of leaves, particularly those with ser- rated margins, such as the birch, the perennial mer- cury (Mercurialis perennis ), mountain ash, &c. She places herself upon the outer edge of the leaf which she has selected, so that its margin may pass between her legs. Turning her head towards the point, she. commences near the footstalk, and with her. mandi-: bles cuts out a circular piece ‘with as much expedi- more accuracy and neatness than could easily be done by us. As she proceeds, she keeps the cut portion be- tween her legs so as not to impede her progress; and using her body for a trammel, as a carpenter would ports herself during. the operation upon the - portion of the leaf which she is detaching, it must be ob- vious, when it is nearly cut off, that the weight of her body might tear it away, so as to injure the accu- racy of its curvilineal shape. ‘T’o prevent any acci- dent of this kind, as soon as she suspects that her weight might tear ‘it, she poises herself on her wings, till she has completed the incision. Jt has been said, by naturalists, that ‘this ‘Manoeuvre of poising * See p. 43.
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