60 OSMIA AND ITS HABITS 



show pretty clearly that these little creatures 

 are not driven by any blind instinct in the 

 adoption of their methods of nest building : they 

 appear to have a distinct power of choice and 

 adaptation according to their environment, unless 

 of course it can be shown that the offspring of, 

 say, a snail shell inhabitant follows its parents' 

 habits, and that that of a ground borer does 

 the same but even that would not explain the 

 case given by F. Smith, and quoted above, where 

 an Osmia had filled up the whorls of a shell and 

 then, finding the final whorl too large, placed two 

 cells horizontally to fill it : that seems to indicate 

 distinct design on the part of the bee and would be 

 hard to explain as due to instinct. Unfortunately, 

 with the exception of a very few, the species 

 of Osmia are rare in this country, so that few 

 opportunities are available for studying their 

 habits, which are certainly amongst the most 

 interesting of any genus. 



