Bramble-bees and Others 



When I have made these comprehensive ar- 

 rangements, there is nothing more to be done; 

 and I wait patiently for the building-season 

 to open. 



My Osmiae leave their cocoons in the sec- 

 ond half of April. Under the immediate rays 

 of the sun, in well-sheltered nooks, the hatch- 

 ing would occur a month earlier, as we can 

 see from the mixed population of the snowy 

 almond-tree. The constant shade in my study 

 has delayed the awakening, without, however, 

 making any change in the nesting-period, 

 which synchronizes with the flowering of the 

 thyme. We now have, around my working- 

 table, my books, my jars and my various ap- 

 paratus, a buzzing crowd that goes in and 

 out of the windows at every moment. I en- 

 join the household henceforth not to touch a 

 thing in the insects' laboratory, to do no more 

 sweeping, no more dusting. They might dis- 

 turb the swarm and make it think that my 

 hospitality was not to be trusted. I suspect 

 that the maid, wounded in her self-esteem at 

 seeing so much dust accumulating in the mas- 

 ter's study, did not always respect my prohi- 

 bitions and came in stealthily, now and again, 

 to give a little sweep of the broom. At any 



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