The Mason-bees 



future larva Is at stake. Let him dismiss any 

 such illusion: more and more journeys are un- 

 dertaken, now in quest of food, now in quest 

 of mortar; but not one of the Mason-bees 

 troubles about the disastrous breach. The 

 harvester goes on hai'vesting; the busy brick- 

 layer proceeds with her next row of bricks, as 

 though nothing out of the way had happened. 

 Lastly, if the injured cells are high enough 

 and contain enough provisions, the Bee lays 

 her eggs, puts a door to the house and passes 

 on to another house, without doing aught to 

 remedy the leakage of the honey. Two or 

 three days later, those cells have lost all their 

 contents, which now form a long trail on the 

 surface of the nest. 



Is it through lack of intelligence that the 

 Bee allows her honey to go to waste? May 

 it not rather be through helplessness? It 

 might happen that the sort of mortar which 

 the mason has at her disposal will not set on 

 the edges of a hole that is sticky with honey. 

 The honey may prevent the cement from ad- 

 justing itself to the orifice, in which case the 

 insect's inertness would merely be resignation 

 to an irreparable evil. Let us look into the 

 matter before drawing Inferences. With my 

 172 



