The Osmiae 



goes on until the wide cylinder is completely 

 stocked. 



The building of this preliminary party- 

 wall, with a narrow, round dog-hole, for a 

 chamber to which the victuals will not be 

 brought until later is not restricted to the 

 Three-horned Osmia; it is also frequently 

 found in the case of the Horned Osmia and 

 Latreille's Osmia. Nothing could be pret- 

 tier than the work of the last-named, who 

 goes to the plants for her material and fash- 

 ions a delicate sheet in which she cuts a grace- 

 ful arch. The Chinaman partitions his house 

 with paper screens; Latreille's Osmia divides 

 hers with disks of thin green cardboard per- 

 forated with a serving-hatch which remains 

 until the room is completely furnished. When 

 we have no glass houses at our disposal, we 

 can see these little architectural refinements in 

 the reeds of the hurdles, if we open them at 

 the right season. 



By splitting the bramble-stumps in the 

 course of July, we perceive also that the 

 Three-pronged Osmia, notwithstanding her 

 narrow gallery, follows the same practice as 

 Latreille's Osmia, with a difference. She does 

 not build a party-wall, which the diameter of 



75 



