The Resin-bees 



scattered all round his hay mattress under the 

 slab, there is always a hope of finding some 

 Snail-shells plugged with mud and, here and 

 there, mixed with them, a few Snail-shells 

 closed with resin. The two Bees work next 

 door to each other, one using clay, the other 

 gum. The excellence of the locality is re- 

 sponsible for this frequent cohabitation, shel- 

 ter being provided by the broken stone from 

 the quarry and lodgings by the shells which 

 the House has left behind. 



At places where dead Snail-shells are few 

 and far between, as in the crevices of rustic 

 walls, each Bee occupies by herself the shells 

 which she has found. But here, in the quar- 

 ries, our crop will certainly be a double or 

 even a treble one, for both Resin-bees frequent 

 the same heaps. Let us, therefore, lift the 

 stones and dig into the mound until the ex- 

 cessive dampness of the subsoil tells us that 

 it is useless to look lower down. Sometimes 

 at the moment of removing the first layer, 

 sometimes at a depth of eighteen inches, we 

 shall find the Osmia's Snail-shell and, much 

 more rarely, the Resin-bee's. Above all, pa- 

 tience! The job Is none of the most fruitful; 

 nor is it exactly an agreeable one. By dint 



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