The monkish legends tell us that St. Francis Xavier, walking one day in a garden, and seeing an insect, of the _Mantis_ genus, moving along in its solemn way, holding up its two fore legs, as in the act of devotion, desired it to sing the praises of God. The legend adds that the saint immediately heard the insect carol a fine canticle with a loud emphasis. We want no miraculous voice to record the wonders of the Almighty hand, when we regard the insect world. The little rose-leaf cutter, pursuing her work with the nicest mathematical art--using no artificial instruments to form her ovals and her circles--knowing that the elastic property of the leaves will retain them in their position--making her nest of equal strength throughout, by the most rational adjustment of each distinct part--demands from us something more than mere wonder; for such an exercise of instinctive ingenuity at once directs our admiration to the great Contriver, who has so admirably proportioned her knowledge to her necessities. _CHAPTER IV._ CARDER-BEES; HUMBLE-BEES; SOCIAL-WASPS. The bees and wasps, whose ingenious architecture we have already examined, are solitary in their labours. Those we are about to describe live in society. The perfection of the social state among this class of insects is certainly that of the hive-bees. They are the inhabitants of a large city, where the arts are carried to a higher excellence than in small districts enjoying little communication of intelligence. But the bees of the villages, if we may follow up the parallel, are not without their interest. Such are those which are called carder-bees and humble-bees. Carder-Bees. The nests of the bees which Réaumur denominates carders (_Bombus muscorum_, Latr.) are by no means uncommon, and are well worth the study of the naturalist. During the hay harvest, they are frequently met with by mowers in the open fields and meadows; but they may sometimes be discovered in hedge-banks, the borders of copses, or among moss-grown stones. The description of the mode of building adopted by this bee has been copied by most of our writers on insects from Réaumur; though he is not a little severe on those who write without having ever had a single nest in their possession. We have been able to avoid such a reproach; for we have now before us a very complete nest of carder-bees, which differs from those described by Réaumur, in being made not of moss, but withered grass. With this exception, we find that his account agrees accurately with our own observations. (J. R.) [Illustration: Fig. A represents two Carder-Bees heckling moss for their Nests; B, exterior view of the Nest of the Carder-Bee.]