More Enquiries into Mason-bees 



in the galleries, but with her head at the en- 

 trance. But once those old habitations are 

 in use and the building of new cells begun, she 

 selects another retreat. In the harmas,^ as 

 I have said, are stone heaps, intended for 

 building the surrounding wall. This is where 

 my Chalicodomce pass the night. Piled up 

 promiscuously, both sexes together, they sleep 

 in numerous companies, in crevices between 

 two stones laid closely one on top of the other. 

 Some of these companies number as many as 

 a couple of hundred. The most common 

 dormitory is a narrow groove. Here they all 

 huddle, as far forward as possible, with their 

 backs in the groove. I see some lying flat on 

 their backs, like people asleep. Should bad 

 weather come on, should the sky cloud over, 

 should the north-wind whistle, they do not 

 stir out. 



With all these things to take into consider- 

 ation, I cannot expect my dot on the Bee"'s 

 thorax to last any length of time. By day, 

 the constant brushing and the rubbing against 

 the partitions of the galleries soon wipe it off; 



*The waste ground on which the author studies his in- 

 sects in the natural state. Cf. The Life of the Fly: 

 chap. i. — Translator's Note. 

 87 



