The Nest-building Odynerus 



workers who find a lodging in the shell of 

 the Edible Snail. These two swamp with 

 gum, on the outer surface of the lid, their 

 coarse, angular bricks, which are unequal 

 in size, variable in nature and often of a 

 half-earthy character, so that the uneven- 

 ness of the work, in which the pieces are 

 laid side by side at random, is hidden under 

 a coat of resin. On the inner surface the 

 gum does not fill the gaps and the cemented 

 fragments appear with all their irregular 

 projections and their clumsy arrangement. 

 Remember also that the bits of gravel are 

 kept exclusively for the operculum, or lid, 

 the final covering; the partitions which mark 

 off the cells are made entirely of resin, 

 without any mineral particles. 



The Alpine Odynerus works on a differ- 

 ent plan: she saves pitch by making better 

 use of stone. A number of round, flinty 

 atoms are set in a bed of still sticky cement, 

 on the outer surface. They fit one against 

 the other, are almost all of the same size, 

 that of a pin's head, and are selected singly 

 by the artist amid the miscellaneous rub- 

 bish that litters the ground. When it is 

 well-executed, as is frequently the case, the 

 result suggests a piece of embroidery 

 worked with roughly-fashioned beads of 

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