THE OSMIiE 223 



ready-made lodgings, such as the old cells and old 

 galleries of Anthophorse and Chalicodomse. If these 

 favorite haunts are lacking, then a hiding-place in the 

 wall, a round hole in some bit of wood, the tube of a 

 reed, the spiral of a dead Snail under a heap of stones 

 are adopted, according to the tastes of the several species. 

 The retreat selected is divided into chambers by parti- 

 tion-walls, after which the entrance to the dwelling re- 

 ceives a massive seal. That is the sum-total of the 

 building done. 



For this plasterer's rather than mason's work, the 

 Horned and the Three-horned Osmia employ soft earth. 

 This material is a sort of dried mud, which turns to 

 pap on the addition of a drop of water. The two Osmise 

 limit themselves to gathering natural soaked earth, mud 

 in short, which they allow to dry without any special 

 preparation on their part; and so they need deep and 

 well-sheltered retreats, into which the rain cannot pene- 

 trate, or the work would fall to pieces. 



Latreille's Osmia uses different materials for her par- 

 titions and her doors. She chews the leaves of some 

 mucilaginous plant, some mallow perhaps, and then pre- 

 pares a sort of green putty with which she builds her 

 partitions and finally closes the entrance to the dwelling. 

 When she settles in the spacious cells of the Masked 

 Anthophora (Anthophora pcrsonata, Illig.), the entrance 

 to the gallery, which is wide enough to admit a man's 

 finger, is closed with a voluminous plug of this vege- 

 table paste. On the earthy banks, hardened by the sun, 

 the home is then betrayed by the gaudy color of the lid. 



