The Eumenes 



Cure of E. Amadei is a symmetrical cupola, 

 a spherical skull-cap, having at the top a nar- 

 row passage just wide enough for the insect 

 and surmounted by a neatly-funnelled neck. 

 It suggests the round hut of the Eskimo or 

 of the ancient Gael, with its central chimney. 

 An inch, more or less, represents the dia- 

 meter; three-quarters of an inch the height. 

 When the support is a perpendicular plane, 

 the building still retains the domed shape, but 

 the entrance- and exit-funnel opens at the 

 side, upwards. The floor of this apartment 

 calls for no labour: it is supplied direct by 

 the bare stone. 



Having chosen the site, the builder erects 

 a circular fence about an eighth of an inch 

 thick. The materials consist of mortar and 

 small stones. The insect selects its stone- 

 quarry in some well-trodden path or on some 

 neighbouring highroad, at the driest, hard- 

 est spots. With its mandibles, it scrapes to- 

 gether a small quantity of dust and soaks it 

 with saliva until the whole becomes a regu- 

 lar hydraulic mortar which soon sets and is 

 no longer susceptible to damp. The Ma- 

 son-bees have shown us a similar exploita- 

 tion of the beaten paths and of the road- 

 mender's macadam. All these open-air 

 builders, all these erectors of monuments ex- 

 5 



