Bramble-bees and Others 



methods employed by two builders of such 

 different talents, one of whom handles flock, 

 the other gum. The nest from Marseilles has 

 for its barricade bits of chalky gravel, parti- 

 cles of earth, fragments of sticks, a few 

 scraps of moss and especially juniper-catkins 

 and -needles. The Serignan nests, installed 

 in Helix aspersa, have almost the same pro- 

 tective materials. I see bits of gravel, the 

 size of a lentil, and the catkins and needles 

 of the brown-berried juniper predominating. 

 Next come the dry excretions of the Snail and 

 a few rare little land-shells. A similar jum- 

 ble of more or less everything found near the 

 nest forms, as we know, the barricade of the 

 Manlcate Cotton-bee, who is also an adept 

 at using the Snail's stercoral droppings after 

 these have been dried In the sun. Let us ob- 

 serve finally that these dissimilar materials are 

 heaped together without any cementing, just 

 as the Insect has picked them up. Resin plays 

 no part In the mass; and we have only to 

 pierce the lid and turn the shell upside down 

 for the barricade to come dribbling to the 

 ground. To glue the whole thing together 

 docs not enter into the Resin-bee's scheme. 

 Perhaps such an expenditure of gum Is beyond 



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