The Mason-Wasps 



These have been worked for many genera- 

 tions. The ancient public buildings of 

 Orange, notably the colossal frontage of 

 the theatre whither all the intellectual world 

 once flocked to hear Sophocles' CEdipus 

 Tyrannus, derive most of their material 

 from these quarries. Other evidence con- 

 firms what the similarity of the hewn stone 

 tells us. Among the rubbish that fills up 

 the spaces between the tiers of seats, they 

 occasionally discover the Marseilles obol, a 

 bit of silver stamped with the four-spoked 

 wheel, or a few bronze coins bearing the 

 effigy of Augustus or Tiberius. Scattered 

 also here and there among the monuments 

 of antiquity are heaps of refuse, accumula- 

 tions of broken stones in which various Bees 

 and Wasps, including the Three-horned 

 Osmia in particular, take possession of the 

 dead Snail-shell. 



The quarries form part of an extensive 

 plateau which is so arid as to be nearly 

 deserted. In these conditions, the Osmia, 

 at all times faithful to her birth-place, has 

 little or no. need to emigrate from her heap 

 of stones and leave the shell for another 

 dwelling which she would be obliged to 

 seek at a distance. Since there are heaps of 

 stone there, she probably has no other 

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