The Mason-bees 



The perfect insect itself, garbed in vermilion 

 with blue ornaments, is fairly common on the 

 surface of the clay slabs during the working 

 season, strolling leisurely through the yard to 

 taste here and there the drops of honey ooz- 

 ing from some cracked pot. Notwithstand- 

 ing his showy livery, so unlike the workers' 

 sombre frieze, the Chalicodomae leave him in 

 peace, as though they recognized in him the 

 scavenger whose duty it is to keep the sewers 

 wholesome. 



Ravaged by the passing years, the Mason's 

 home at last falls into ruin and becomes a 

 hovel. Exposed as it is to the direct action 

 of wind and weather, the dome built upon a 

 pebble chips and cracks. To repair it would 

 be too irksome, nor would that restore the 

 original solidity of the shaky foundation. 

 Better protected by the covering of a roof, 

 the city of the sheds resists longer, without, 

 however, escaping eventual decay. The 

 storeys which each generation adds to those 

 in which it was born increase the thickness 

 and the weight of the edifice in alarming 

 proportions. The moisture of the tile filters 

 into the oldest layers, wrecks the foundations 

 and threatens the nest with a speedy fall. It 

 2:2. 



