second ration of honey is placed; and an egg is laid on the surface
of the paste. Lastly, at the upper end of the little barrel, a
partition is built with the scrapings obtained in the course of the
final work on the third cell, which itself is shaped like a flattened
ovoid. And so the work goes on, cell upon cell, each supplying the
materials for the partition separating it from the one below. On
reaching the end of the cylinder, the Osmia closes up the case with a
thick layer of the same mortar. Then that bramble-stump is done with;
the Bee will not return to it. If her ovaries are not yet exhausted,
other dry stems will be exploited in the same fashion.

The number of cells varies greatly, according to the qualities of the
stalk. If the bramble-stump be long, regular and smooth, we may count
as many as fifteen: that, at least, is the highest figure which my
observations have supplied. To obtain a good idea of the internal
distribution, we must split the stalk lengthwise, in the winter, when
the provisions have long been consumed and when the larvae are
wrapped in their cocoons. We then see that, at regular intervals, the
case becomes slightly narrower; and in each of the necks thus formed
a circular disk is fixed, a partition one or two millimetres thick.
(.039 to .079 inch.--Translator's Note.) The rooms separated by these
partitions form so many little barrels or kegs, each compactly filled
with a reddish, transparent cocoon, through which the larva shows,
bent into a fish-hook. The whole suggests a string of rough, oval
amber beads, touching at their amputated ends.

In this string of cocoons, which is the oldest, which the youngest?
The oldest is obviously the bottom one, the one whose cell was the
first built; the youngest is the one at the top of the row, the one
in the cell last built. The oldest of the larvae starts the pile,