Bramble-bees and Others 



When July arrives, this doubly-tenanted 

 house becomes the scene of a tragic conflict. 

 Those below, on attaining the adult state, 

 burst their swaddling-bands, demolish their 

 resin partitions, pass through the gravel barri- 

 cade and try to release themselves; those 

 above, larvae still or budding pupae, prisoners 

 in their shells until the following spring, com- 

 pletely block, the way. To force a passage 

 from the far-end of those catacombs is be- 

 yond the strength of the Resin-bee, already 

 weakened by the effort of breaking out of her 

 own nest. A few of the Osmia's partitions 

 are damaged, a few cocoons receive slight in- 

 juries; and then, worn out with vain strug- 

 gles, the captives abandon hope and perish 

 behind the impregnable wall of earth. And 

 with them perish also certain parasites, even 

 less fit for the prodigious work of clearance: 

 Zonites and Chryses {Chrysis flarmnea)^ of 

 whom the first are consumers of provisions 

 and the second of grubs. 



This lamentable ending of the Resin-bee, 

 buried alive under the Osmia's walls. Is not 

 a rare accident to be passed over in silence or 

 referred to in a few words; on the contrary, 

 it happens very often; and its frequency 



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