292 INSECT LIFE 



XXI 



cane were arranged side by side, vertically, in a box, 

 with the artificial roof at the top, so that the insects 

 were in the exact position they had in a nest. To 

 open them they must do as they would had I not 

 intervened — break through the wall overhead. I 

 protected all with a large bell glass, and awaited the 

 month of May when they would emerge. 



The result greatly surpassed my expectations. 

 The earthen stopper made by me was pierced with 

 a round hole, noways differing from that made by the 

 mason bee through its mortar dome. The vegetable 

 barrier, so new to my prisoner, — namely, the Sorghum 

 cylinder, — was likewise opened by a hole, apparently 

 made by a single effort, and the gray paper allowed 

 the insect to pass, not by bursting through, but once 

 more by a neat round hole. So my bees were 

 capable of work for which they were not created. 

 To issue from their reed cells they did what probably 

 none of their race ever did before ; they perforated 

 the Sorghum pith and made a hole in the paper just 

 as they would have done with their natural clay 

 ceiling. When the moment came to free them- 

 selves, the nature of the obstacle was no hindrance 

 so long as it was not too strong for them, and 

 thenceforward the plea of incapacity could not be 

 evoked where a mere paper barrier was in question. 



At the same time as the reed cells, two intact 

 nests on their pebbles were placed under the glass 

 bell. On one I pressed closely a sheet of gray 

 paper over the mortar dome, so that to come forth 

 the insect must first pierce the dome and then the 

 paper, no space being left between them ; while a 

 little cone of gray paper was gummed on the stone 



