. Insect architecture. Insects. The cell, d The cell, wivli a roll of caterpillars pre- pared for the larva. tween them, giving it the appearance of fillagree work That it should be thus slightly built is not surprising, for it is intended as a temporary structure ibr protecting the insect while it is excavating its hole ; and as a pile of materials, well arranged and read] at baud, for the completion of the interior building,—in the same way that workmen make a regular pile of bricks near the spot where they are going to build. This seems, in fact, to be the main design of the t


. Insect architecture. Insects. The cell, d The cell, wivli a roll of caterpillars pre- pared for the larva. tween them, giving it the appearance of fillagree work That it should be thus slightly built is not surprising, for it is intended as a temporary structure ibr protecting the insect while it is excavating its hole ; and as a pile of materials, well arranged and read] at baud, for the completion of the interior building,—in the same way that workmen make a regular pile of bricks near the spot where they are going to build. This seems, in fact, to be the main design of the tower, which is taken down as expedi- tiously as it had been reared. Reaumur thinks, that by piling in the sand which has previously been dug- out, the wasp intends to guard its progeny for a time from being exposed to the too violent heat of the sun ; and he has even sometimes seen that there were not suflicient materials in the tower, in which case the wasp had recourse to the rubbish she had thrown. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Rennie, James, 1787-1867. London, M. A. Nattali


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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1840, booksubjectinsects, bookyear1846