THE OSMIiE 225 



autumn, for the drying of figs. At the end of April and 

 during May, which is the time when the Osmiae work, 

 the canisses are indoors, in the Silkworm nurseries, 

 where the Bee cannot take possession of them ; in autumn, 

 they are outside, exposing their layers of figs and peeled 

 peaches to the sun"; but by that time the Osmias have long 

 disappeared. If, however, during the spring, an old, 

 disused hurdle is left out of doors, in a horizontal posi- 

 tion, the Three-horned Osmia often takes possession of 

 it and makes use of the two ends, where the reeds lie 

 truncated and open. 



There are other quarters that suit the Three-homed 

 Osmia, who is not particular, it seems to me, and will 

 make shift with any hiding-place, so long as it have the 

 requisite conditions of diameter, solidity, sanitation and 

 kindly darkness. The most original dwellings that I 

 know her to occupy are disused Snail-shells, especially 

 the house of the Common Snail (Helix aspcrsa). Let 

 us go to the slope of the hills thick with olive-trees and 

 inspect the little supporting-walls which are built of dry 

 stones and face the south. In the crevices of this insecure 

 masonry we shall reap a harvest of old Snail-shells, 

 plugged with earth right up to the orifice. The family 

 of the Three-homed Osmia is settled in the spiral of those 

 shells, which is subdivided into chambers by mud par- 

 titions. 



The Three-pronged Osmia (0. Tridenfata, Duf. and 

 Per.) alone creates a home of her own, digging herself 

 a channel with her mandibles in dry bramble and some- 

 times in danewort. 



