The Distribution of the Sexes 



after the other in some cylindrical gallery. 

 In most cases, the home is the produce of 

 neither the one nor the other. A tunnel in 

 the upright, earthy banks, the old work of 

 some Anthophora, is the usual dwelling. 

 There is no great depth to these retreats; and 

 all my searches, zealously prosecuted during a 

 number of winters, procured me only scries 

 containing a small number of cocoons, four or 

 five at most, often one alone. And, what is 

 quite as serious, nearly all these series are 

 spoilt by parasites and allow me to draw no 

 well-founded deductions. 



I remembered finding, at rare intervals, 

 nests of both Anthidium and Megachile in 

 the hollows of the cut reeds. I thereupon 

 installed some hives of a new kind on the 

 sunniest walls of my enclosure. They con- 

 sisted of stumps of the great reed of the 

 south, open at one end, closed at the other by 

 the natural knot and gathered into a sort of 

 enormous pan-pipe, such as Polyphemus 

 might have employed. The invitation was 

 accepted: Osmia, Anthidia and Megachiles 

 came in fairly large numbers, especially the 

 first, to benefit by the queer installation. 



In this way I obtained some magnificent 



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