Bramble-Dwellers 



An error removed is tantamount to a truth 

 gained; and yet, if it were to end here, the 

 result of my experiment would possess but 

 slight value. After destruction, let us turn 

 to construction; and perhaps we shall find the 

 wherewithal to compensate us for a lost il- 

 lusion. Let us begin by watching the exit. 



The first Osmia to leave her cocoon, no 

 matter what place she occupies in the series, 

 forthwith attacks the ceiling separating her 

 from the floor above. She cuts a fairly clean 

 hole in it, shaped like a truncate cone, having 

 its larger base on the side where the Bee is 

 and its smaller base opposite. This conform- 

 ation of the exit-door is a characteristic of 

 the work. When the insect tries to attack 

 the diaphragm, it first digs more or less at 

 random; then, as the boring progresses, the 

 action is concentrated upon an area which 

 narrows until it presents no more than just 

 the necessary passage. Nor is the cone- 

 shaped aperture special to the Osmia : I have 

 seen it made by the other bramble-dwellers 

 through my thick disks of sorghum-pith. Un- 

 der natural conditions, the partitions, which, 

 for that matter, are very thin, are destroyed 

 absolutely, for the contraction of the cell at 



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