The Halicti : Parthenogenesis 



foraging. This is done without animation, 

 perhaps because of the morning coohiess. 

 There is no joyous excitement, no humming 

 above the burrows. The Bees come back 

 again, flying low, silently and heavily, their 

 hind-legs yellow with pollen; they alight on 

 the earth-cone and at once dive down the ver- 

 tical chimney. Others come up the pipe and 

 go off to their harvesting. 



This going to and fro for provisions con- 

 tinues until eight or nine in the morning. '1 hen 

 the heat begins to grow intense and is reflected 

 by the wall ; then also the path is once more 

 frequented. People pass at every moment, 

 coming out of the house or elsewhence. The 

 soil is so much trodden under foot that the lit- 

 tle mounds of refuse surrounding each burrow 

 soon disappear and the site loses every sign of 

 underground habitation. 



All day long, the Halicti remain Indoors. 

 Withdrawing to the bottom of the galleries, 

 they occupy themselves probably in making 

 and polishing the cells. Next morning, new 

 cones of rubbish appear, the result of the 

 night's work, and the pollen-harvest is re- 

 sumed for a few hours; then everything ceases 

 again. And so the work goes on, suspended 



4JI 



