ATTRACTING QUEENS n 9 



The nests destroyed by the shrews and mice 

 were promising ones, and I quickly set to work to 

 devise means to exclude these small mammals from 

 the nests that they had not yet attacked. A shrew 

 is really a very small creature, and, although it looks 

 much larger than a humble-bee, its skeleton being 

 internal, it can squeeze through almost as small an 

 aperture as a queen humble-bee, whose skeleton is 

 external and unyielding. I found by experiment 

 that a lapidarius queen could comfortably pass 

 through a square wooden hole measuring -.,- in. x 

 T 7 ^ in., and about in. long, but I had so much 

 difficulty in pulling a small shrew through it that I 

 do not think it could possibly have managed to 

 creep through by itself. Covers containing holes 

 of these dimensions were therefore placed over all 

 my lapidarius nests. The cover consisted of a small 

 tin lid with a large hole punched in the middle. 

 Over the hole were fixed two strips of wood, one 

 on either side of the hole, one of the strips being 

 fixed to the tin, and the other strip being connected 

 to the first strip by a pair of screws, which made it 

 possible to vary to a nicety the size of the aperture 

 between them, small blocks of wood of the width 

 of the aperture required being placed between the 

 strips, inside the screws. These covers were pressed 

 into the ground over the mouths of the tunnels lead- 

 ing to the nests. The queens showed great intelli- 

 gence in quickly recognising the holes in the covers, 

 and seemed to enjoy passing through the narrow 

 apertures. Unfortunately the queens at first had a 



