CHAPTER I 



THE MASON-BEES 



REAUMUR' devoted one of his papers to 

 the story of the Challcodoma of the 

 Walls, whom he calls the Mason-bee. I 

 propose to go on with the story, to complete 

 it and especially to consider it from a point 

 of view wholly neglected by that eminent 

 observer. And, first of all, I am tempted to 

 tell how I made this Bee's acquaintance. 



It was when I first began to teach, about 

 1843. I had left the normal school at 

 Vaucluse, some months before, with my 

 diploma and all the simple enthusiasm of my 

 eighteen years, and had been sent to Car- 

 pentras, there to manage the primary school 

 attached to the college. It was a strange 

 school, upon my word, notwithstanding its 

 pompous title of "upper;" a sort of huge 

 cellar oozing with the perpetual damp en- 



iRene Antoine Ferchault de Reaumur (1683-1757), 

 inventor of the Reaumur thermometer and author of 

 Memoires pour servir a I'histoire naturelle des insectes. 

 — Translator's Note. 



