The Ecology of a Sheltered Clay Bank 177 
to make it workable; then they carried out mouthful after 
mouthful of soft mud in the form of pellets. These were 
used in the construction of the chimney until that was 
of adequate size, after which the surplus material was 
kicked aside. 
By August 20 the males had disbanded and were no 
longer seen about the premises. They had not gone far, 
however, but were around on the other side of the house, 
Testing, one each in the wild morning-glory blossoms 
which they had found there. They quietly occupied the 
floral cups for hours at a time, serving no good purpose 
that I could see, but only usurping the rightful place of 
the pollen-hunting mother, and often even fighting des- 
perately to keep her ont—a perfect dog-in-the-manger. 
At the end of August, despite several days of rain, fe- 
males were still at work bringing in loads of pollen. By 
September 3, several cold nights had caused them to lay 
aside their virtue of early rising. They were abundant 
and actively engaged at this late date. By the 6th or 
7th, however, only about a dozen bees were still alive, or 
at least in evidence about their business, some bringing 
in pollen and others actually excavating. On September 
12, with the preceding night very cold, no bees were to 
be seen at work in the morning; at noon, one crept out, 
and by three o’clock, two more ventured. But even at 
this late date, eight males were seen as before, huddled in 
the cup of the morning-glory flowers, where they had 
Spent the night. These flowers had not closed for the 
night,* and even at ten a. m., these males were in a tor- 
aan 
ight, 
*It is unusual for morning-glory flowers not to close at n 
but this actually happened late in the season when the —— were 
Cold and dewey. These flowers which remained open gave 
lent shelter to the bees. 
