Bramble-bees and Others 



a little patience in waiting for the favourable 

 moment. 



The Anthidium arrives at last, carrying the 

 bale of cotton for the plugging. With her 

 fore-legs, she tears It apart and spreads-It out; 

 with her mandibles, which go in closed and 

 come out open, she loosens the hard lumps 

 of flock; with her forehead, she presses each 

 new layer upon the one below. And that is 

 all. The insect flies off, returns the richer by 

 another bale and repeats the performance un- 

 til the cotton barrier reaches the level of the 

 opening. We have here, remember, a rough 

 task, in no way to be compared with the deli- 

 cate manufacture of the bags; nevertheless, it 

 may perhaps tell us something of the general 

 procedure of the finer work. The legs do the 

 carding, the mandibles the dividing, the fore- 

 head the pressing; and the play of these im- 

 plements produces the wonderful cushioned 

 wallet. That is the mechanism In the lump; 

 but what of the artistry? 



Let us leave the unknown for facts within 

 the scope of observation. I will question the 

 Diadem Anthidium in particular, a frequent 

 inmate of my reeds. I open a reed-stump 

 about two decimetres long by twelve mllll- 



280 



