Bramble-bees and Others 



lying horizontally. The horizontal position 

 has a twofold advantage. In the first place, it 

 removes the insect from the Influence of 

 gravity, inasmuch as it leaves it Indifferent to 

 the direction to be taken, the right or the left. 

 In the second place, it does away with the 

 descent of the rubbish which, falling under 

 the worker's feet when the boring is done 

 from below, sooner or later discourages her 

 and makes her abandon her enterprise. 



There are a few precautions to be observed 

 for the successful conduct of the experiment; 

 I recommend them to any who might care to 

 make the attempt. It Is even advisable to re- 

 member them in the case of the tests which I 

 have already described. The males, those 

 puny creatures, not built for work, are sorry 

 labourers when confronted with my stout 

 disks. Most of them perish miserably in their 

 glass cells, without succeeding in piercing their 

 partition right through. Moreover, instinct 

 has been less generous to them than to the fe- 

 males. Their corpses, interspersed here and 

 there in the scries of the cells, are disturbing 

 causes, which It Is wise to eliminate. I there- 

 fore choose the larger, more powerful-looking 

 cocoons. These, except for an occasional un- 



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