CHAPTER II 



THE SITARES 



'T^HE high banks of sandy clay in the 

 country round about Carpentras are 

 the favourite haunts of a host of Bees and 

 Wasps, those lovers of a thoroughly sunny 

 aspect and of soils that are easy to excavate. 

 Here, in the month of May, two Antho- 

 phorae l are especially abundant, gatherers 

 of honey and, both of them, makers of sub- 

 terranean cells. One, A. parietina, builds at 

 the entrance of her dwelling an advanced 

 fortification, an earthy cylinder, wrought in 

 open work, like that of the Odynerus, 2 and 

 curved like it, but of the width and length of 

 a man's finger. When the community is a 

 populous one, we stand amazed at the rustic 

 ornamentation formed by all these stalactites 

 of clay hanging from the facade. The other, 



1 Cf. The Mason-bees, by J. Henri Fabre, translated 

 by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos: chap. viii. ; and Bram- 

 ble-bees and Others, by J. Henri Fabre, translated by Alex- 

 ander Teixeira de Mattos: passim. Translator's Note. 



2 Cf. The Mason-wasps, by J. Henri Fabre, translated 

 by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos: chaps, vi. and x. 

 Translator's Note. 



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