Bramble-Dwellers 



clear the channel of its lumber, such as the re- 

 mains of cocoons and the litter of shattered 

 ceilings, and, lastly, to build new partitions, 

 either with a plaster made of clay or with a 

 concrete formed of pith-scrapings cemented 

 with a drop of saliva. 



We can tell these borrowed dwellings by 

 the unequal size of the storeys. When the 

 worker has herself bored the channel, she 

 economizes her space : she knows how costly it 

 is. The cells, in that case, are all alike, the 

 proper size for the tenant, neither too large 

 nor too small. In this box, which has cost 

 weeks of labour, the insect has to house the 

 largest possible number of larvae, while allot- 

 ting the necessary amount of room to each. 

 Method in the superposition of the floors and 

 economy of space are here the absolute rule. 



But there is evidence of waste when the 

 insect makes use of a bramble hollowed by 

 another. This is the case with Tripoxylon 

 figuhis. To obtain the store-rooms wherein to 

 deposit her scanty stock of Spiders, she divides 

 her borrowed cylinder into very unequal cells, 

 by means of slender clay partitions. Some are 

 a centimetre^ deep, the proper size for an in- 



^.39 inch. — Translator's Note. 



4 



