Bramble-bees and Others 



less elegance, as Is proved by the Girdled 

 Anthidium, who makes her nest in some 

 hiding-place or other in the walls or the 

 ground. When the purse is finished, the pro- 

 visions come and the egg, followed by the 

 closing of the cell. We do not here find the 

 geometrical lid of the Leaf-cutters, the pile 

 of disks tight-set in the mouth of the jar. The 

 bag is closed with a cotton sheet whose edges 

 are soldered by a felting-process to the edges 

 of the opening. The soldering is so well done 

 that the honey-pouch and its cover form an 

 indivisible whole. Immediately above it, the 

 second cell is constructed, having its own 

 base. At the beginning of this work, the in- 

 sect takes care to join the two storeys by felt- 

 ing the ceiling of the first to the floor of the 

 second. Thus continued to the end, the work, 

 with its Inner solderings, becomes an unbroken 

 cylinder, In which the beauties of the separate 

 wallets disappear from view. In very much 

 the same fashion, but with less adhesion 

 among the different cells, do the Leaf-cutters 

 act when stacking their jars In a column 

 without any external division into storeys. 



Let us return to the reed-stump which gives 

 us these details. Beyond the cotton-wool 



283 



