CHAPTER VII. 



WONDERS OF INSECT ARCHITECTURE: SOLITARY 

 BUILDERS. 



r I ^HE Bees and Wasps whose wonderful architectural 

 A powers we have so far considered all live in com- 

 munities of varying size, and from this general habit 

 are called Social Bees and Wasps. There are, how- 

 ever, a number of species which do not live in com- 

 munities, but in which each individual builds its own 

 nest. These Solitary Bees and Wasps are quite as 

 clever artisans as their Social relations, and although 

 the nests which they construct do not attain to such 

 a size, they are wonderful examples of skill ; while 

 the habits of the little Solitary builders are in many 

 instances most deeply interesting. 



The Mason Bee is very common in some parts of 

 France, and it was the great naturalist Re*aumur who 

 first drew attention to its wonderful skill as a builder 

 in stone and cement. On jhe surface of a sun-baked 

 stone wall numerous small, more or less dome or egg 

 shaped lumps of mud may often be seen, looking as if 

 some one had been throwing pellets of mud at the 

 wall, to which they had become attached. Closer in- 

 spection will show them to be formed not of mud, but 

 of a clever admixture of gravel and earth, which sticks 



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