The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-04-04
SOME NEW BOOKS.
VI. Fabrc's IRA n, bic Becs.

from which Alexander dc Mattos has
drawn for the English reading public
brilliant chapters on the spider, fly
and mason bee" yield another treas
urc. BrambIc B.cs and others tDodi,
Mead. The hedge tricner cuts the
trailing stems OF the s.amble a foot
or 20 from the ground. The stump
diAa and attracts the attention of n
host Of hymenoptera in quest of home
sites. The shell of II Ii hard and
makes good shelter: the pith Is soft
and workable. and the top affords
easy entrance to the borer. Removal
OF the pith gives q long cylindrical
gallery, which the bee partitions off
into stories. each the cell of larva.
The construction of the partitions Is
n lesson in economy; the insect does
not Nv afield for materials but uses
the scrapings from the tube. The
waste Of the first operation Is the ma
terial Of the second. when the bar
rel is filed with cells. each holding
an egg and stocked with provision for
the larva. the top &c the tube is sealed.
When the time comes for the cmer-
gence of the young insect 1t travels
"
ligneous wall: though there arc ccr-
tain rare exceptions to this general
rule. TO bc noted later.
The qus stion occurs to the curious
examiner. cleaving longitudinally the
long stalk for sight of the snug COM
partments and understanding of the
development Of their tenants: The
osmia, bramble bee, in the bottom
room of the series is the oldest. her
egg was the first laid, and presumably
the first Matched. Is she the first to
emerge from the many stored tene-
ment house? There may be as many
as fifteen chambers IN the shaft.
Does the Matching really take place
in the order OF primogeniturc? or
does the youngest of the brood
emerge from the cocoon first. and the
''oldest" last. Matching in inverse order
to the egg laying process" II that
were so. the flmily's emergcncc from
the nursery would he smplified: each
csmia as she rent her "siken prison
would find the road cleared for her
after leaving her own apartment IT,
on the other hand. as Prof. Leon
Dufour POLITICALLY expressed 1t. the
last built cradle were to yield the first
born child. then. lateral exit being
barred by the hardness OF the walls
too tough for the mandlble tools of
the little prisoner. the brutal giinlet
work upward would. it seems. involve
the destruction of the brothers and
sisters bedded along the route. So Prof
Dufour comfortably took stand upon
natures genius in design and fertility
in resource and concluded that the
fright of primogeniture" was waived
But Prof. Fabre is not satisfied
with so easy process OF investiga-
ton: he believes only what he sees
He splits nested bramble stalk. care
fully removes the cocoons. and places
them, exactly preserving the original
order. in a glass tube. separating
them with artificial partitions Of pith
The tube is wrapped in Opaque paper
removed when observation is made
Thus the larval environment is Sc
closely reproduced that there is no dis
turbance of the natural development
During the six years that | have
studied this question" he says. 81
have seen and seen again. ad nau-
seam: and l am in position &c
declare that there is no order govern
ing the sequence of hatchings. abso-
lutely none The first birth may
happen at the top. bottom or middls
OF the series: the next may he in an
adjoining chamber. or two or tire,
doors away. or even more remote
Several hatchings may be quite OF
nearly simultaneous. Is il indeed sur.
prising that this should he the casr
The whole business OF making tn,
nest and laying the eggs takes never
more than a few days. and may h,
completed in few hours: the periot
OF incubation varies with individuals
and it would be extraordinary If the
process did actually exhibit clocklikt
regularity
Moreover. the series includes botf
male and female insects. and there Is
no fixed order OF distribution of The
sexes, and male bees issue from
the cell a little earlier than the fe'
males. In a word the chronological
order Of emergence from the stalt
does not correspond to the order o
emergcnce from the separate cocoons
Tn .ne glass tube the insects are offer
dDle 10 squeeze through the lnlPTNtn
ing cells withou, destroying the Co
coons. bu, in the natural state. in tn,
bramble stalk. where the cocoon fit
close the insect. boring through tn,
ceiling OF its cuhicle, simply waits un
iii the cell overhead is emptied. Thu.
TIE exodus does proceed regularly
from summit TO base, not because o
any exceptional evolution, but simpl,
because of inability to advance unit
the cells above have been vacated
There Is, however, note of one inter
esting occasional variation in the pro
sramme: Sometimes the cylinder 4
moi bored out clean at the start an,
sufficient thickness of pithy lining re
mains to permit the insect to cut IL
upward groove at the side of the co
coon above. In this case there is n,
waiting for the slower brother ar sis
ter TO hatch. reinforcing the statemen
that the ORDERLY emergcnce is du
simply 10 physical inability to pro
coed without destroying the unopene,
cocoon. The admirable thing is ma
lures implantation of respect for tina
confined atom Of potential life.
Sometimes the egg fails to hatch
the cocoon never bursts, the cell he
comes a mouldy tomb. What. ther
of the prisoner below? NJ. Fabr
noticed, among innumerablt brandt
stumps Of his collection, some fey
that showed, in addition to the norma
upper or!fce, an aperture or two /