MASONS 69 



are coated by a general mass of masonry. When 

 finished the dome-shaped structure is the size of 

 half an orange. The outer coating of all is composed 

 of grains of sand coarser than those previously 

 used. It harmonizes well with the natural stone 

 to which it is attached, or on a close examination 

 might be supposed to be a daub of mud. But it 

 sets so hard that it is with difficulty explored with 

 a knife-blade. 



This building work is carried out in spring, and 

 the solidity of the entire structure has evident 

 relation to the fact that in an exposed position it 

 has to protect the inmates from being dried up by 

 summer heat and from being frozen by winter's 

 cold, for it is not until the following spring that 

 the young bees emerge. Then the hardness of 

 the masonry presents no difficulty to them : their 

 jaws are stout enough and sharp enough to pick 

 it to pieces and clear a way large enough to permit 

 their exit. Yet Fabre found that their powers in 

 this respect were somewhat limited. If the nests 

 were closely surrounded by paper they cut through 

 it as though it were part of their natural enclosure ; 

 but if the paper wall was so arranged that it left 

 a clear space between it and the nest, they cut 

 through the latter, of course, but did not know 

 how to deal with the paper as a separate obstacle, 

 and perished in this outer prison. The difference 

 is probably due, as suggested by Perez, to the fact 

 that in the larger space they do not know where 

 to begin, whilst in the confined space of the cell 



