Bramble-bees and Others 



apparatus, these same counsels betray it: it 

 goes towards the top, where there is no outlet. 

 Thus misled by my artifices, the Osmiae per- 

 ish, heaped up on the higher floors and buried 

 in the ruins. 



It nevertheless happens that attempts are 

 made to clear a road downwards. But it is 

 rare for the work to lead to anything in this 

 direction, especially in the case of the middle 

 or upper cells. The insect is little inclined for 

 this progress, the opposite to that to which it 

 is accustomed; besides, a serious difficulty 

 arises in the course of this reversed boring. As 

 the Bee flings the excavated materials behind 

 her, these fall back of their own weight under 

 her mandibles; the clearance has to be begun 

 anew. Exhausted by her Sisyphean task, dis- 

 trustful of this new and unfamiliar method, 

 the Osmia resigns herself and expires in her 

 cell. I am bound to add, however, that the 

 Osmiae in the lower storeys, those nearest the 

 exit — sometimes one, sometimes two or three 

 — do succeed in escaping. In that case, they 

 unhesitatingly attack the partitions below 

 them, while their companions, who form the 

 great majority, persist and perish in the upper 

 cells. 



37 



