The Sitares 



A. pilipes, who is very much more frequent, 

 leaves the opening of her corridor bare-. 

 The chinks between the stones in old walls 

 and abandoned hovels, the surfaces of ex- 

 cavations in soft sandstone or marl, are 

 found suitable for her labours; but the fa- 

 vourite spots, those to which the greatest num- 

 ber of swarms resort, are vertical stretches, 

 exposed to the south, such as are afforded by 

 the cuttings of deeply sunken roads. Here, 

 over areas many yards in width, the wall is 

 drilled with a multitude of holes, which im- 

 part to the earthy mass the look of some 

 enormous sponge. These round holes might 

 be fashioned with an auger, so regular are 

 they. Each is the entrance to a winding cor- 

 ridor, which runs to a depth of four to six 

 inches. The cells are distributed at the far 

 end. If we would witness the labours of the 

 industrious Bee, we must repair to her work- 

 shop during the latter half of May. Then, 

 but at a respectful distance, if, as novices, we 

 are afraid of being stung, we may contem- 

 plate, in all its bewildering activity, the 

 tumultuous, buzzing swarm, busied with the 

 building and the provisioning of the cells. 



It is most often during the months of 

 August and September, those happy months 

 of the summer holidays, that I have visited 

 29 



