228 THE WONDERS OF INSTINCT 



When I have made these comprehensive arrangements, 

 there is nothing more to be done; and I wait patiently for 

 the building-season to open. 



My Osmiae leave their cocoons in the second half of 

 April. Under the immediate rays of the sun, in well- 

 sheltered nooks, the hatching would occur a month 

 earlier, as we can see from the mixed population of the 

 snowy almond-tree. The constant shade in my study 

 has delayed the awakening, without, however, making 

 any change in the nesting-period, which synchronizes 

 with the flowering of the thyme. We now have, around 

 my working-table, my books, my jars and my various 

 appliances, a buzzing crowd that goes in and out of the 

 windows at every moment. I enjoin the household 

 henceforth not to touch a thing in the insects' laboratory, 

 to do no more sweeping, no more dusting. They might 

 disturb a swarm and make it think that my hospitality 

 was not to be trusted. During four or five weeks I wit- 

 ness the work of a number of Osmiae which is much too 

 large to allow my watching their individual operations. 

 I content myself with a few, whom I mark with different- 

 colored spots to distinguish them ; and I take no notice of 

 the others, whose finished work will have my attention 

 later. 



The first to appear are the males. If the sun is bright, 

 they flutter around the heap of tubes as if to take careful 

 note of the locality; blows are exchanged and the rival 

 swains indulge in mild skirmishing on the floor, then 

 shake the dust off their wings. They fly assiduously 

 from tube to tube, placing their heads in the orifices to 



