THE MASON BEES 129 



That most beautiful of all our salvias, the 

 thistle sage, was growing plentifully in the 

 vicinity and spreading 'abroad over the desert 

 the glory of its ethereal, lilac-blue blossoms. 

 To these honey-laden flowers the mother bee 

 now made constant trips, for from these she 

 must get the sweet nectar and pollen that make 

 the molasses-like paste on which the grubs are 

 fed. Thousands of other bees were engaged in 

 the same necessary industry and the air about 

 was filled with the humming of the zealous 

 workers. The mother early provisioned her cell 

 with a store of honey and pollen, mixing the 

 paste according to the "inveterate and fixed 

 routine of her ancestors " ; always the honey was 

 disgorged from the mouth, and then the pollen 

 brushed off the hairs beneath the body, and the 

 two substances mixed. The paste filled the 

 burrow almost half full, and on this the minute 

 egg was laid. 



Now began the work of sealing up the cell. 

 This was accomplished by laying in a thick 

 concave plug of pure hard wax. This complete, 

 the bee began, to my surprise, excavating all 

 about underneath the little earthen collar about 



