f the native burrow in view of her offspring,
the Bee, notwithstanding her instincts as a solitary worker, achieves
an attempt at social life, because there is one entrance-door and
one passage for the use of all the mothers returning to the original
domicile. There is thus a semblance of collaboration without any real
co-operation for the common weal. Everything is reduced to a family
inheritance shared equally among the heirs.

The number of these coheirs must soon be limited, for a too tumultuous
traffic in the corridor would delay the work. Then fresh passages are
opened inwards, often communicating with depths already excavated,
so that the ground at last is perforated in every direction with an
inextricable maze of winding tunnels.

The digging of the cells and the piercing of new galleries take place
especially at night. A cone of fresh earth on top of the burrow bears
evidence every morning to the overnight activity. It also shows by its
volume that several navvies have taken part in the work, for it would be
impossible for a single Halictus to extract from the ground, convey to
the surface and heap up so large a stack of rubbish in so short a time.

At sunrise, when the fields around are still wet with dew, the
Cylindrical Halictus leaves her underground passages and starts on her
foraging. This is done without animation, perhaps because of the morning
coolness. There is no joyous excitement, no humming above the burrows.
The Bees come back again, flying low, silently and heavily, their
hind-legs yellow with pollen; they alight on the earth-cone and at once
dive down the vertical chimney. Others come up the pipe and go off to
their harvesting.

This journeying to and fro for provisions continues until eight or nine
in the morning. Then the heat begins to grow intense and is reflected
by the wall; then also the path is once more frequented. People pass at
every moment, coming out of the house or elsewhence. The soil is so much
trodden under foot that the little mounds of refuse surrounding each
burrow soon disappear and the site loses every sign of underground
habitation.

All day long, the Halicti remain indoors. Withdrawing to the bottom of
the galleries, they occupy themselves probably in making and polishing
the cells. Next morning, new cones of rubbish appear, the result of the
night's work, and the pollen-harvest is resumed for a few hours; then
everything ceases again. And so the work goes on, suspen