The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1898-02-18
NATURAL BUILDERS.
BoAsTFuL MAN SHOULD CONSIDER
THE WORK OF ANIMALS.

The Great Builder Has Given Extraordi-
nary Instinct and Capacity to Some APP
parentiy insignificant Creatures-A Few
Of the Macy Wonders Performed.
Man prides himself upon his marvellous
inventions. Flo holds up to the admira-
ton of the world the wonderful buildings
which he has constructed and thinks him
self unrivaled as an architect, but, HE
who teaches man knowledge has instructed
the smallest insects In the art Of building
and has thus anticipated the works OF
man as an architect" They who builded
the tower of Babel thought their invention
Of turning earth into stone most won
derful discovery, but the white ant and
the busy little bee had practiced this art
from the earliest days. The great mathe-
matician instructed the tiny bee how to
build its first cell In the manner which
combines the greatest amount OF strength
with the least material. Instinct, which
may be called perpetual memory, has pre-
served the knowledge thus communicated,
and the art has been practiced by the
countless myriads of their descendants In
oil chimes and countries. The little bee has
been engaged in storing away the honey
( In these hexagonal cells, constructing the
pells of wax and placing within them the
bee bread, O paste made of pollen and
honey, for the food of the young. In each
of these cells the queen bee deposits an
egg. Some of the bees surround their nests
with down collected from the leaves OF
plants to serve as nonconductor Of heat;
to guard against changes of temperature.
Nature taught the inferior orders of AMI
| lie FOR fn 6iyidQ
their houses into various apartments, to
construct domes, arches, staircases and
colonnades and to excavate tunnels. The
scarlet hangings of the ancient city or
Tyre excited the admiration of the then
known world, but there was little insect
that knew the art, long before the cele-
brated Tyrian dye was discovered, OF hang
ing the walls of its cell with tapestry OF
scarlet more brilliant than that of Tyre.
Selecting the scarlet petals Of the poppy,
the upholsterer bee cuts small, oval pieces
as neatly as II done with pair of scissors,
seizes the pieces between her legs and car
ries them to her nest. She overlays them
three or four in thickness. fitting the pieces
very dextrously, and thus hanging her
nest all around with this splendid scarlet
J tapestry. In this beautiful nest her eggs
are Matched. The carpets that cover the
} floors of our houses are inferior In tissue
and texture to the weaves OF silken carpet
, daily woven by insects which line their
: habitations with these silken textures.
The fabrication of lace has ever been a
dainty one, but industrious little creatures
often defend their helpless chrysalis by
building it house or covering or
beautiful lace The manufacture of paper
is of comparatively recent date but this
r.. INx.r fol ln6
the snappish wasp and the irritable hornet.
I Houses of pasteboard were constructed
: more than 5000 years ago by some OF our
< commonest insects.
s Men have been ages in bringing popu-
t lous cities to their fullest extent, but the
). white ants require only few months to
! build a city containing q much larger
t number of inhabitants than Babylon In
@ all its glory These habitations are built
d with two stories, with long galleries and
J. numerous chambers. The spider weaves
|, his home as silken net; the locust con-
IS structs his of the bark of trees, cut into
shape by sawlike organ which he pos.
n sesses; the kingfsher rears its young In
t floating cradle; the ant builds winding
!, Messages to numerous chambers. In the
d innermost of these chambers the infant
treasures are laid at night to protect them
It from cold In the morning, when the sur
d Is up, the workers convey the larvae to the
70 upper chambers close under the roof
If where they may have warmth. The opos
d sum carries her house, her cradle, hel
20 bed, her family, all with her In the won
s. derful pouch with which nature has en-
1t tiowed her. The hamsters create vaults
Of where each young one has separate apart
rs ment.
70 The beaver hut is round and arched ant
= has a cellar, a flooring, ceiling and |
roof raised by an animal destitute OF tn
builders art and instructed only by ma
ture. The hare keeps open chimney T.
al his burrow for circulation OF air, from
ID which In cold countries little column o
0. steam is often seen to arise. The chimpan
N zee builds for himself hut Of branche
10 and leaves, which is, however, roofiess
"a Many shellfish have been taught by Mothe
x Nature to enlarge their houses withou
" moving out of them. Birds build variou
T. kinds of nests in various kinds OF places
o. They hang them from trees, they sew then
IN to a living leaf they weave mattin
adj above them, they build them In section
he under a common roof In the shape OF
ar nurse. they place them in tufts of gras
On where
o They found their lowly house Of withere
re bents
m And coarser spear grass.
mr. They line their houses with feathers
er leaves, grass, hair, string, moss; they q
q, ment them, they glue them, they plaste
in them.
he The most insignificant Of natures cree
be tive bounty have talent for maxim
he houses for their young. The gentry J
n yellow jackets deposit their eggs In brow
he paper cups or in little clay cells; the sp
lie der, that sly spinner, ties them up In bae
ST. of Quaker colored silk. Some do them
In gray bundles and hang them on tree
some find cradle for them In the ripper
ing apple or the reddening cherry, viii
". some shelter them beneath the leather
ad umbrella of the toadstool. Everywhel
an these Larvae may be found as spring open
ma They arc peeping from holes swinging
or the air. laid away In silken shroud
rst rocked in shells of the ocean, burrowing
Tor the earth, skulking In the woods, set
en- mother of pearl, put up in ivory, imbedd,
ed In sand, laid away In the center OF fal
-~~hx~, frox,, tho ofbor side