THE OSMIiE 253 



From this rich mine of material I will take what I want 

 to prove my case. 



Every series, even when incomplete, begins with fe- 

 males and ends with males. To this rule I have not yet 

 found an exception, at least in galleries of normal diame- 

 ter. In each new abode the mother busies herself first of 

 all with the more important sex. Bearing this point in 

 mind, would it be possible for me, by manoeuvering, to 

 obtain an inversion of this order and make the laying 

 begin with males? I think so, from the results already 

 ascertained and the irresistible conclusions to be drawn 

 from them. The double-galleried tubes are installed in 

 order to put my conjectures to the proof. 



The back gallery, 5 or 6 millimeters ^ wide, is too 

 narrow to serve as a lodging for normally developed 

 females. If, therefore, the Osmia, who is very economi- 

 cal of her space, wishes to occupy them, she will be 

 obliged to establish males there. And her laying must 

 necessarily begin here, because this comer is the rear- 

 most part of the tube. The foremost gallery is wide, 

 with an entrance-door on the front of the hive. Here, 

 finding the conditions to which she is accustomed, the 

 mother will go on with her laying in the order which 

 she prefers. 



Let us now see what has happened. Of the fifty-two 

 double-galleried tubes, about a third did not have their 

 narrow passage colonized. The Osmia closed its aper- 

 ture communicating with the large passage; and the lat- 

 ter alone received the eggs. This waste of space was in- 



1 .195 to .234 inch. — Translator's Note. 



