XX 



MASON BEES 



REAUMUR has dedicated one of his studies to the 

 Chalicodoma of walls, which he calls the Mason 

 Bee. I propose to resume this study, to complete 

 it, and especially to consider it from a point of view 

 entirely neglected by that illustrious observer. And 

 first of all I am tempted to state how I made 

 acquaintance with this Hymenopteron. It was when 

 I first began to teach — towards A.D. 1843. On 

 leaving the Normal School of Vaucluse a few 

 months previously, with my certificate, and the naive 

 enthusiasm of eighteen, I was sent to Carpentras 

 to manage the primary school belonging to the 

 college. A singular school it was, upon my word, 

 notwithstanding its fine title of " Upper " ! — a kind 

 of vast cellar breathing out the damp engendered 

 by a fountain backing on it in the street. Light 

 came in through a door opening outward when the 

 weather allowed of it, and a narrow prison-window, 

 with iron -bars, and little diamond panes set in 

 lead. For seats there was a plank fastened to the 

 walls all round the room ; in the middle was a chair 

 guiltless of straw, a blackboard, and a bit of chalk. 



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