The Halicti : Parthenogenesis 



When the soil is exploited for the first time 

 and the shaft sunk slowly from the outside 

 to the inside, do several Cylindrical Ilalicti, 

 one relieving the other, take part in the work 

 by which they will afterwards profit equally? 

 I do not believe it for a moment. As the 

 Zebra Ilalictus and the Early Halictus told 

 me later, each miner goes to work alone and 

 makes herself a gallery which will be her ex- 

 clusive property. The common use of the 

 passage comes presently, when the site, tested 

 by experience, is handed down from one gene- 

 ration to another. 



A first group of cells is established, we will 

 suppose, at the bottom of a pit dug in virgin 

 soil. The whole thing, cells and pit, is the 

 work of one insect. When the moment comes 

 to leave the underground dwelling, the Bees 

 emerging from this nest will find before them 

 an open road, or one at most obstructed by 

 crumbly matter, which offers less resistance 

 than the neighbouring soil, as yet untouched. 

 The exit-way will therefore be the primitive 

 way, contrived by the mother during the con- 

 struction of the nest. All enter upon it with- 

 out any hesitation, for the cells open straight 

 on it. All, coming and going from the cells 



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