The Halicti : Parthenogenesis 



Let none of the OdynerP who make their 

 homes In a roadside bank mistake the door 

 and enter her neighbour's house : she would 

 have a bad time of It ! Let no Megachile, 

 returning with her leafy disk In her legs, go 

 Into the wrong basement : she would be very 

 soon dislodged ! So with the others: each has 

 her own home, which none of the others has 

 the right to enter. This Is the rule, even 

 among Bees and Wasps established in a popu- 

 lous colony on a common site. Close neigh- 

 bourhood Implies no sort of Intimate relation- 

 ship. 



Great therefore Is my .surprise as I watch 

 the Cylindrical Halictus' operations. She 

 forms no society, In the entomological sense 

 of the word: there is no common family; and 

 the general interest does not engross the at- 

 tention of the individual. Each mother occu- 

 pies herself only with her own eggs, builds 

 cells and gathers honey only for her own 

 larvae, without concerning herself in any way 

 with the upbringing of the others' grubs. All 

 that they have in common is the entrance-door 

 and the goods-passage, which ramifies in the 

 ground and leads to different groups of cells, 



'A species of Mason-wasps. — Translator's Note. 



425 



