TRANSLATOR'S NOTE 



THIS volume contains all the essays on tKe 

 Challcodomae, or Mason-bees proper, 

 which so greatly enhance the interest of 

 the early volumes of the Souvenirs entO' 

 mologiques. I have also included an essay 

 on the author's Cats and one on Red Ants 

 — the only study of Ants comprised in the 

 Souvenirs — both of which bear upon the sense 

 of direction possessed by the Bees. Those 

 treating of the Osmise, who are also Mason- 

 bees, although not usually known by that 

 name, will be found in a separate volume, 

 which I have called Bramble Bees and Others, 

 and in which I have collected all that Fabre 

 has written on such other Wild Bees as the 

 Megachiles, or Leaf-cutters, the Cotton-bees, 

 the Resin-bees, and the Halicti. 



The essays entitled The Mason-bees, Ex- 

 periments and Exchanging the Nests form the 

 last three chapters of Insect Life, translated 

 by the author of Mademoiselle Mori and pub- 

 lished by Messrs. Macmillan, who, with the 

 greatest courtesy and kindness have given me 

 their permission to include a new translation 

 vU 



