'And me?'

'Oh, you; that's another matter!'

Whereupon the intruder would keep at a respectful distance, which was
what I wanted.

It is time that we thought of experimenting. The Mason-bees intended
for the journey must be marked with a sign whereby I may know them. A
solution of gum arabic, thickened with a colouring-powder, red, blue
or some other shade, is the material which I use to mark my
travellers. The variety in hue will save me from confusing the
subjects of my different experiments.

When making my former investigations, I used to mark the Bees at the
place where I set them free. For this operation, the insects had to be
held in the fingers one after the other; and I was thus exposed to
frequent stings, which smarted all the more for being constantly
repeated. The consequence was that I was not always quite able to
control my fingers and thumbs, to the great detriment of my
travellers; for I could easily warp their wing-joints and thus weaken
their flight. It was worth while improving the method of operation,
both in my own interest and in that of the insect. I must mark the
Bee, carry her to a distance and release her, without taking her in my
fingers, without once touching her. The experiment was bound to gain
by these nice precautions. I will describe the method which I adopted.

The Bee is so much engrossed in her work when she buries her abdomen
in the cell and rids herself of her load of pollen, or when she is
building, that it is easy, at such times, without alarming her, to