Bramble-Dwellers 



July, we see the insect, perched on a bramble- 

 stump, attack the pith and dig itself a well. 

 When this is deep enough, the Osmia goes 

 down, tears off a few particles of pith and 

 comes up again to fling her load outside. This 

 monotonous labour continues until the Bee 

 deems the gallery long enough, or until, as 

 often happens, she finds herself stopped by an 

 impassable knot. 



Next comes the ration of honey, the laying 

 of the egg and the partitioning, the last a deli- 

 cate operation to which the insect proceeds by 

 degrees from the base to the top. At the bot- 

 tom of the gallery, a pile of honey is placed 

 and an egg laid upon the pile; then a partition 

 is built to separate this cell from the next, for 

 each larva must have its special chamber, 

 about a centimetre and a half^ long, having no 

 communication with the chambers adjoining. 

 The materials employed for this partition are 

 bramble-sawdust, glued into a paste with the 

 Insect's saliva. Whence are these materials 

 obtained? Does the Osmia go outside, to 

 gather on the ground the rubbish which she 

 flung out when boring the cylinder? On the 



1.58 inch. — Translator's Note. 



6 



