fumbling and exploring, superintending, as it were, the finishing
touches given to the work. They are her instruments of precision; they
represent the builder's compasses, square, level and plumb-line.

Hitherto my experiments have been confined to the females, who are
much more faithful to the nest by virtue of their maternal
responsibilities. What would the males do if they were taken from
home? I have no great confidence in these swains who, for a few days,
form a tumultuous throng outside the nests, wait for the females to
emerge, quarrel for their possession, amid endless brawls, and then
disappear when the works are in full swing. What care they, I ask
myself, about returning to the natal nest rather than settling
elsewhere, provided that they find some recipient for their amatory
declarations? I was mistaken: the males do return to the nest. It is
true that, in view of their lack of strength, I did not subject them
to a long journey: about half a mile or so. Nevertheless, this
represented to them a distant expedition, an unknown country; for I do
not see them go on long excursions. By day, they visit the nests or
the flowers in the garden; at night, they take refuge in the old
galleries or in the interstices of the stone-heaps in the harmas.

The same nests are frequented by two Osmia-bees (Osmia tricornis and
Osmia Latreillii), who build their cells in the galleries left at
their disposal by the Chalicodomae. The most numerous is the first,
the Three-horned Osmia. It was a splendid opportunity to try and
discover to what extent the sense of direction may be regarded as
general in the Bees and Wasps; and I took advantage of it. Well, the
Osmiae (Osmia tricornis), both male and female, can find their way
back to the nest. My experiments were made very quickly, with small
numbers and over short distances; but the results agreed so closely