The Mason-bees 



Antonia, who is on the look-out beside the 

 nests, sees the first traveller arrive. On my 

 return, in the course of the evening, two 

 others come back. Total: three of my 

 Masons home on the same day, out of ten 

 scattered abroad. 



I resume the experiment next day. I mark 

 ten Mason-bees with red, which will enable 

 me to distinguish them from those who re- 

 turned on the day before and from those who 

 may still return with the white spot uneffaced. 

 The same precautions, the same rotations, the 

 same localities as on the first occasion; only, 

 I make no rotation on the way, confining my- 

 self to swinging my box round on leaving 

 and on arriving. The insects are released at 

 a quarter past eleven. I prefer the morning, 

 as this was the busiest time at the works. One 

 Bee was seen by Antonia to be back at the nest 

 by twenty minutes past eleven. Supposing her 

 to be the first let loose, it took her just five 

 minutes to cover the distance. But there Is 

 nothing to tell me that it is not another, in 

 which case she needed less. It is the fastest 

 speed that I have succeeded in noting. I my- 

 self am back at twelve and, within a short 

 time, catch three others. I see no more 

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