The Mason-bees 



a more Irksome; should It blunder for once, 

 it will not inspire its posterity with a wish to 

 persevere In a costly delusion. No, the Stells 

 never abandoned the .delicate art of cotton- 

 weaving to break down walls and to grind 

 cement, a class of work far too unattractive 

 to efface the memory of the joys of harvesting 

 amid the flowers. Indolence has not evolved 

 her from an Anthldlum. She has always 

 been what she is to-day: a patient artificer in 

 her own line, a steady worker at the task that 

 has fallen to her share. 



That hurried mother who first, in remote 

 ages, broke into the abode of her fellows to 

 secure a home for her eggs found this un- 

 scrupulous method, so you tell us, very fa- 

 vourable to the success of her race, by virtue 

 of its economy of time and trouble. The im- 

 pression left by this new policy was so pro- 

 found that heredity bequeathed it to post- 

 erity, in ever-increasing proportions, until at 

 last parasitic habits became definitely fixed. 

 The Chalicodoma of the Sheds, followed by 

 the Three-horned Osmla, will teach us what 

 to think of this conjecture. 



I have described in an earlier chapter my in- 

 stallation of Challcodoma-hives ;against th<» 

 228 



