204 THE WONDERS OF INSTINCT 



And, first of all, what sites do these builders select for 

 their homes? Should you pass some little garden- 

 wall, facing south, in a sun-scorched corner, look at 

 the stones that are not covered with plaster, look at 

 them one by one, especially the largest; examine the 

 masses of boulders, at no great height from the ground, 

 where the fierce rays have heated them to the tem- 

 perature of a Turkish bath ; and, perhaps, if you seek 

 long enough, you will light upon the structure of Eumenes 

 Amedci. The insect is scarce and lives apart; a meet- 

 ing is an event upon which we must not count with too 

 great confidence. It is an African species and loves the 

 heat that ripens the carob and the date. It haunts the 

 sunniest spots and selects rocks or firm stones as a 

 foundation for its nest. Sometimes also, but seldom, it 

 copies the Chalicodoma of the Walls * and builds upon 

 an ordinary pebble. 



Eumenes pomiformis is much more common and is 

 comparatively indifferent to the nature of the foundation 

 whereon she erects her cells. She builds on walls, on 

 isolated stones, on the wood of the inner surface of 

 half-closed shutters; or else she adopts an aerial base, 

 the slender twig of a shrub, the withered sprig of a 

 plant of some sort. Any form of support serves her 

 purpose. Nor does she trouble about shelter. Less 

 chilly than her African cousin, she does not shun the 

 unprotected spaces exposed to every wind that blows. 



When erected on a horizontal surface, where nothing 

 interferes with it, the structure of Eumenes Amedei is a 



1 Or Mason-bee. — Translator's Note. 



