Insect architecture / [Anon].

  • James Rennie
Date:
1830
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Insect architecture / [Anon]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    56/444 page 38
    / nt 38 ; INSECT ARCHITECTURE. usurp the nest which another had formed. <A. fierce battle was invariably the consequence of this attempt; for the true mistress would never give place to the intruder. The motive for the injustice and the re- sistance was an indisposition to further labour. The trial of strength was probably, sometimes, of as little use in establishing the right as it is amongst man- kind; and the proper owner, exhausted by her efforts, had doubtless often to surrender to he dis- honest usurper. The account which Réaumut has given of thie opera- tions of this class of bees. differs considerably from that which we have here detailed; from the species being different, or from his bees not having been able _ to procure moist clay. On the contrary, sand was the chief material used by his mason-bees (Megachile muraria) ; which they had the patience to select from - the walks of.a garden, and knead into a paste or mortar, adapted to their building. - They had con- to its being joined to the pellet, in order to make it adhere more effectually. The tenacity of_ the adding a proportion of earth or garden mould. In this manner, a ball of mortar is formed, about the size of a small shot, and carried off to the nest. When the structure of this is examined, it has all the appear- ance externally of being composed of earth and small stones or gravel. ‘The ancients, who were by no means accurate naturalists, having observed bees carrying pellets of earth and small stones, supposed that they employed these to add to their ‘weight, in order to steady their flight when impeded. by the wind. The nests thus constructed appear to have been
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