The Mother Decides the Sex 



trance-doors leading to the Anthophora's 

 abode, doors ahvays left open, even after the 

 building is finished. Each of them gives ac- 

 cess to a short passage, sometimes straight, 

 sometimes winding, nearly horizontal, po- 

 lished with minute care and varnished with a 

 sort of white glaze. It looks as if it had 

 received a thin coat of whitewash. On the 

 inner surface of this passage, in the thickness 

 of the earthy bank, spacious oval niches have 

 been excavated, communicating with the cor- 

 ridor by means of a narrow bottle-neck, which 

 is closed, when the work is done, with a sub- 

 stantial mortar stopper. The Anthophora 

 polishes the outside of this stopper so well, 

 smoothes its surface so perfectly, bringing it 

 to the same level as that of the passage, is so 

 careful to give it the white tint of the rest 

 of the wall that, when the job is finished, it 

 becomes absolutely impossible to distinguish 

 the entrance-door corresponding with each 

 cell. 



The cell is an oval cavity dug in the earthy 

 mass. The wall has the same polish, the 

 same chalky whiteness as the general passage. 

 But the Anthophora does not limit herself 

 to digging oval niches: to make her work 



145 



