Bramble-bees and Others 



result was the same in the case of Anthid'tum 

 scapiilare. The insects divided themselves 

 into two equal batches, one going to the right, 

 the other to the left. Tripoxylon figulus left 

 me undecided. This feeble insect is not ca- 

 pable of perforating my partitions; it nibbles 

 at them a little; and I had to judge the 

 direction from the marks of its mandibles. 

 These marks, which are not always very plain, 

 do not yet allow me to pronounce an opinion. 

 Solenius vagus, who is a Skilful borer, be- 

 haved differently from the Osmia. In a col- 

 umn of ten, the whole exodus was made in 

 one direction. 



On the other hand, I tested the Mason-bee 

 of the Sheds, who, when emerging under na- 

 tural conditions, has only to pierce her cement 

 ceiling and is not confronted with a series of 

 cells. Though a stranger to the environment 

 which I created for her, she gave me a most 

 positive answer. Of a column of ten laid in 

 a horizontal tube open at both ends, five made 

 their way to the right and five to the left. 

 Dioxys cincta, a parasite in the buildings of 

 both species of Mason-bees, the Chalicodpma 

 of the Sheds and the Chalicodoma of the 

 Walls, provided me with no precise result. 



47 



