Litchfield enquirer., 1830-06-17

, nest and towards the material. The lass bee of the file lays hold of some of the moss with her madibles, diseutangles it from the rest. and having carded it with her forelegs
 into a sort of felt or small bundle. she
 pushes it under her body to the next bee,
 who passes it in the same manner to the
 next. and so on till it is brought to the bor-
 der of the nest-in the same way as we
 sometimes see sugar losSes conveyed
 from caftso warehouse, by file of
 porters, throwing them from one to anoth-
 CT. The elevation of the dome, which is
 all built from the interior, is from four to
 six inches above the level of the field.-
 Besides the moss or grass, they frequently
 employ coarse wax to form the ceiling of
 the vault, for the purpose of keeping out
 rain, and preventing high winds from de-
 sfroying it. Before this finishing is given
 to the nest, we havo remarked, that on
 line sunshiny day the upper portion of this dome was opened to the extent of more
 than an inch, in order, wc suppose, to for
 ward the matching of the eggs in tho interi-
 or-but on the approach of night this was
 carefully covered in again. It was re-
 markable, that the opening we have just
 mentioned was never used by the bees for either their entrance or their exit from the
 nest, though they were all at work there,
 and, Of course, would have found it tne readiest and easiest passage. But they in- variably made their exit and their entrance ] though the covert-way or gallery which O. pens at the bottom of the nest, and in some nests. is about foot long and half an inch wide. This isy no doubt, intended for concealment from field-mice, polecats, wasps, and other depredatOrs. . l
 The Spider.-The spider has many en- emies, and hence its web is always in dan ger of being deranged and damaged. To meet this inconvenience, nature has fur- nished the insect with a magazine of mate- rials for occasional repairs, and which, al- though frequently exhausted, still contin- ues to be repienished. This reservoir, however, is drained in time. When spi- ders grow old, their gum is dried up; but even when this calamity happens, the cun- ming creature is not destitute of resources which avail it for some time longer. A crafty old spider, having no longer the means of securing a subsistence, seeks out a young one, to which it communicates it's wants and necessities; on which the other, either out of respect to oldsage, or from fear of old spinc1rs, sgslgy its place. and iftEe old spider can find none of its species which will, either from love or fear, resign it's net, it must then perish for wapt of sub sistencc. The water spider spins no web to catch its. prey; but nevertheless offers one of the most singular objects of contem- plation. If we possessed, no other evi- dence that the world had been planned and created by an intelligent Being, the habits, proceedings, and instincts of this little creature would be alone sufficient to prove | the fact. As soon as it has caught it's prey | on the shore, it dives to the bottom of the waters, and there deyours its booty. ltls therefore an amphibious animal; although it appears more fitted to live in contact with the atmosphere than with the water. The diving.belI is modern invention and few facts excite our wonder more than the possibility of mans being enabled to live and move at the bottom ot the ocean. This triumph of reason over the uniriend- ly element, however, was anticipated by an insect---the spider in question. This crea- ture spins some loose threads, which it. at- taehcs to the leaves of aquatic plants; tt then varnishes them over with gluiinous secretion, which resembles liquid glass, and is SO elastic as to admit of considerable dis
 tention and contraction; it next lays 8 coating of this same substance over its own
 body, and underneath this coating inlrodu- ces bubble of air. Naturalists conjec- l ture that it has thespower of drawing in
 this air at the anus from the atmosphere at
 the surface of the pool; but tho precise
 mode in which it is separated from the
 body of the atmosphere and introduced
 under the pellicle, covering the insects 1 body. has not been clearly ascertained:
 Thus clothed. and shining like ball of
 quicksilver, it darts through the waters to the spot in which it had fixed its habisas'on,
 and. disengaging the bubble from under
 the pellicle, it dexterously introduces t 'n- 4 to web formed at the bottom. Alter re- pea,edly moving from tie top to the bot
 tom of the water, and at each joorney h'-
 led i.s babi,a.iou with a fresh bubble of air,
 a, length the lighter completely exPels the
 heavier fluid, and the insect takes posses
 sion of an aerial habitarion. commodious and dry. finished in the very midst Of the
 waters. It is about the size and shape of half a pigeons egg. From this curious
 -L...aos .Ra .n;dar hunts. searching some