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 with the others that I
was convinced. All told, the return to the nest, including my earlier
attempts, was verified in the case of four species: the Chalicodoma of
the Sheds, the Chalicodoma of the Walls, the Three-horned Osmia and the
Great or Warted Cerceris (Cerceris tuberculata). ("Insect Life": chapter
19.--Translator's Note.) Shall I generalize without reserve and allow
all the Hymenoptera (The Hymenoptera are an order of insects having
four membranous wings and include the Bees, Wasps, Ants, Saw-flies and
Ichneumon-flies.--Translator's Note.) this faculty of finding their
way in unknown country? I shall do nothing of the kind; for here, to my
knowledge, is a contradictory and very significant result.

Among the treasures of my harmas-laboratory, I place in the first
rank an Ant-hill of Polyergus rufescens, the celebrate