The Mason-Wasps 



been unable to continue her textile fabric in 

 accordance with the exquisite design dic- 

 tated by her instinct. A length of rope, of 

 indifferent merit, takes the place of the 

 superb masterpiece of felt which the An- 

 thidium would have created had she been 

 working at isolated cells. 



The Chalicodoma of the Walls, when 

 building on a pebble, first raises a turret 

 of faultless geometrical proportions. The 

 dust scraped from the hardest spots in the 

 highways and kneaded with saliva provides 

 the mortar. To make a more solid job of 

 things and also to economize cement, which 

 takes a long time to collect and prepare, 

 tiny bits of gravel are encrusted in the 

 outer surface before the material sets. In 

 this way the initial building becomes a rus- 

 tic rockwork fortress, which is quite pretty to 

 look at. 



Using her trowel freely, the Mason-bee 

 has builded after the prototype of her art, 

 the cylinder adorned with a mosaic pattern. 

 But other cells, at least a dozen, are to fol- 

 low. Necessities now obtrude themselves 

 from which the first piece of work was ex- 

 empt; that which will soon be building is 

 subordinated to that which is already built. 



The solidity of the whole requires that 



220 



