RESTORING OLD BUILDINGS 



so the architect takes care not to leave them in this condition, 

 As soon as the last cell is completed she sets about making 

 a thick lid to cover them all in ; a lid composed of matter 

 which is both waterproof and a bad conductor of heat, 

 affording protection at one and the same time against rain, 

 sun, and frost. This substance is the ordinary mortar, earth 

 mingled with saliva, but this time without any admixture of 

 tiny stones. The bee lays on, pellet by pellet, trowelful by 

 trowelful as it were, a bed of cement nearly half an inch 

 thick over the whole cluster of cells, which is thus lost to 

 sight and completely buried under a coating of mineral 

 matter. When finished, the nest is roughly dome-shaped 

 and about the size of half an orange. 



We have just seen how a new nest is built from foundation 

 to finish, for that is what frequently happens. But not 

 always ; very often, indeed, if a Chalicodoma comes across an 

 old nest in a more or less dilapidated condition, she is quite 

 content to take possession of it and patch it up until it is in 

 a fit state to receive her offspring. These repairs are not 

 usually a very serious matter, as it is hardly necessary to do 

 more than stop up the holes by which the young of the 

 original architect have made their escape, and to remove the 

 shreds of cocoons lining the walls. 



The solitary wasps known as Eumenes they (have no com- 

 mon name) also make free use of grit in constructing then: 

 cement houses to an even greater extent, perhaps, than 

 Chalicodoma^ the mason bee. 



These wasps are adepts in the mixing of mortar, and are 

 very clever architects besides. The Eumenes Amedei is 

 of a chilly nature and seeks solid rocks exposed to the full 

 glare of the sun, where it builds a nest the appearance of 

 which suggests an Esquimaux hut. This nest is evenly 

 curved like a piece cut off the top of an egg, and measures 



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