The Mason-bees 



built. Here is a striking instance: in a cell 

 which has attained its full height, I make a 

 window, almost as large as the natural open- 

 ing, and place it about half-way up, above the 

 honey. The Bee brings provisions for some 

 time longer and then lays her egg. Through 

 my big window, I see the egg deposited on the 

 victuals. The insect next works at the cover, 

 to which it gives the finishing touches with a 

 series of little taps, administered with infinite 

 care, while the breach remains yawning. On 

 the lid, it scrupulously stops up every pore that 

 could admit so much as an atom ; but it leaves 

 the great opening that places the house at the 

 mercy of the first-comer. It goes to that 

 breach repeatedly, puts in its head, examines 

 it, explores it with its antennae, nibbles the 

 edges of it. And that is all. The mutilated 

 cell shall stay as it is, with never a dab of mor- 

 tar. The threatened part dates too far back 

 for the Bee to think of troubling about it. 



I have said enough, I think, to show the in- 

 sect's mental incapacity in the presence of the 

 accidental. This incapacity is confirmed by 

 renewing the test, an essential condition of all 

 good experiments ; therefore my notes are full 

 of examples similar to the one which I have 

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