The Osmiae 



Another, of 9 millimetres/ gives me: 

 15, 14, II, 10, 10, 9, lor 



A glass tube of 8 millimetres^ yields: 

 15, 14, 20, 10, 10, 10.* 



I could fill pages and pages with such 

 figures, if I cared to print all my notes. Do 

 they prove that the Osmia is a geometrician, 

 employing a strict measure based on the 

 length of her body? Certainly not, because 

 many of those figures exceed the length of the 

 insect; because sometimes a higher number 

 follows suddenly upon a lower; because the 

 same string contains a figure of one value 

 and another figure of but half that value. 

 They prove only one thing: the marked tend- 

 ency of the insect to shorten the distance 

 between the party-walls as the work proceeds. 

 We shall see later that the large cells are 

 destined for the females and the small ones 

 for the males. 



Is there not at least a measuring adapted to 



^351 inch. — Translator's Note. 



2.585, .546, .429, .39, .39, .351, .39 incli.— Translator's 

 Note. 



3.312 inch. — Translator's Note. 



*.585, .546, .78, .39, .39, .39 mc\\.— Translator's Note. 



81 



