CHAPTER XXIV.
MORE ABOUT THE TOOLS OF ANIMALS.
The saw-fly.
Insects have various tools or instruments. There is a fly called the saw-fly, because it really has a saw. It is a very nice one, much nicer than any saw that man ever made. The fly uses the saw to make a place to put its eggs, where they will be secure. And what is very curious, it has a sort of glue with which it fastens the eggs in their place.
The bee that cuts leaves so curiously.
There are some insects that have cutting instruments, which will cut as well as you can with scissors, if not better. There is a bee that is remarkable in this respect. It has also a boring tool. Its nest is commonly in old, half-decayed wood. It clears out a space in it with its boring instrument; it then sets itself to work with its cutting instrument to cut out pieces of leaves to line the nest and make the cells in it. These are cut of different shapes, as they are needed, as you may see in the next engraving. Below the leaves you see the nest represented. It is opened by taking off some of the wood, and there you see the lining of leaves. Great pains is taken by the bees in getting each piece of leaf of the right shape to fit well, and the pieces are very nicely fastened together.[A2]
[A2] A more full account of the operations of this little animal you can find in a book published by Harper and brothers, entitled Natural History, by Uncle Philip, which I recommend to my young readers as a very interesting book about animals.
There are some animals that have machinery for making things. All the silk that is used in the world is made by worms. The silk-worm has a regular set of machinery for spinning silk. It winds it up as it spins it. Then man unwinds it, and makes a great variety of beautiful fabrics with this silk thread.
The spinning machinery of the silk-worm and the spider.