The Nest-building Odynerus 



if you hold the Snail-shell to your ear and 

 shake It, you hear a rattle of stones. The 

 Odynerus, in fact, is as familiar as the An- 

 thidia with the art of fortification by means 

 of barricades. I make a breach in the side 

 of the Snail-shell and pour out the heap of 

 loose gravel that blocks the vestibule be- 

 tween the last partition and the lid. One 

 detail should be noted: the materials which 

 1 collect are not homogeneous. Small pol- 

 ished pebbles predominate, but they are 

 mixed with fragments of coarse limestone, 

 bits of shell and particles of earth. The 

 Odynerus, so fastidious in choosing the flint 

 for her mosaics, employs for her filling the 

 hrst rubbish that comes to hand. Even so 

 do the two resin-gatherers act when barri- 

 cading their Snail-shells. As a conscien- 

 tious historian, I will add that the incoherent 

 heap of rubbish is not always there: an- 

 other point of resemblance with the prac- 

 tice of the Anthidia. 



To my great regret, I can carry the bi- 

 ography of the Alpine Odynerus no farther 

 Ihe insect appears to me to be very rare 

 I come upon its nest at long intervals in 

 wmter, the only season propitious to labor- 

 ious searches in the stone-heaps. With the 

 dwelling and its inhabitant, hatched in my 

 i8i ^ 



