Page 187 - Third Book of Reading Lessons

186 'HIRD BOOK OF
several grams. But sand alone wm not make mor­ tar; recourse must be had to a cement, similar to the slacked lime employed by masons. Our bee is unacquainted with lime, but she possesses an equiva­ lent in her own body. From her mouth she throws· out a viscid liquor, with which she moistens the rst· grain; to this she cements a second, which she moist­ ens in the same manner; and to the former two she attaches a third, and so on, till she has rmed- a mass as large as the shot usually employed to kill hares. This mass she carries o in her teeth, to e place she had chosen r erecting her nest, and makes it the undation of the rst cell. In this manner she labours incessantly till all the cells are completed; a work which is generally accomplisbed in ve or six days. ll the cells are similar, and nearly of equal dimensions. Be re they are covered, their gure resembles that of a thimble. She never begins to make a second till the rst is nished. Each cell is about an inch high, and nearly half an inch in diameter.
SM LIE.
LESSON XIII.
RUINS OF THE COLOSS I.
Nov'EL'rY, n., strangeness, newness. F. nouveaute, om novits, L.,
new.
AMPHITIIE1ATRE, n., a building generally elliptical, but sometimes cir­ cular, in rm, having its area encompassed with ranges of seats, one above another, so to a ord the occupants a full view o°f the brutalising and revolting exhibitions in the pit-viz., the slaughter of wild animals, the combats of gladiators-or Christians gored by \ wild bulls, or devoured by beasts. The Flavian Amphitheatre,