The Halicti : Parthenogenesis 



around as long as the sun is hot; when the air 

 cools, they go back to the burrows to spend the 

 night there. 



A few days pass and already the cares of 

 egg-laying are at hand. The galleries have 

 never been abandoned. The Bees have come 

 to take refuge there on rainy or very windy 

 days; most, if not all, have returned every 

 evening at sunset, each doubtless making for 

 her own cell, which is still intact and which is 

 carefully impressed upon her memory. In a 

 word, the Cylindrical Halictus does not lead 

 a wandering life; she has a fixed residence. 



A necessary consequence results from these 

 settled habits: for the purpose of her laying, 

 the Bee will adopt the identical burrow in 

 which she was born. The entrance-gallery is 

 ready, therefore. Should it need to be carried 

 deeper, to be pushed in new directions, the 

 builder has but to extend it at will. The old 

 cells even can serve again, if slightly 

 restored. 



Thus resuming possession of the native bur- 

 row in view of her offspring, the Bee, notwith- 

 standing her instincts as a solitary worker, 

 achieves an attempt at social life, because there 

 is one entrance-door and one passage for the 



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