AN EXCHANGE OF NESTSby@jeanhenrifabre

AN EXCHANGE OF NESTS

by Jean-Henri Fabre12mJune 10th, 2023
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Let us continue our series of experiments on Chalicodoma muraria. From its position on a stone which one can move at will, its nest lends itself to very interesting trials. This is the first of them. I change the place of a nest by carrying the pebble it is placed on some couple of yards away. Edifice and base forming but one, the move was made without at all disturbing the cells. I set the pebble in an open place well in sight, as it was before. When the bee returned, she could not fail to see it. After a few minutes the owner arrived and went straight where the nest used to be. She hovered gently just above the vacant spot, looked, and alighted just where the stone used to lie. There she walked about, searching pertinaciously, then soared up and flew away. Her absence was short; she came back speedily and resumed her search on foot or on the wing—always on the spot formerly occupied by the nest. A new fit of irritation expressed by a sudden flight through the osier bed, then as sudden a return and resumption of the vain search—always over the impression left by the pebble which I had carried away. These sudden flights, prompt returns, and obstinate examinations of the empty place, were repeated very many times before the mason bee could believe her nest was gone. She certainly must have seen it in its new position, for sometimes she flew only a few inches above it, but she did not care about it. For her it only represented the nest of another bee.
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Jean-Henri Fabre

Jean-Henri Fabre

@jeanhenrifabre

I was an entomologist, and author known for the lively style of my popular books on the lives of insects.

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Jean-Henri Fabre HackerNoon profile picture
Jean-Henri Fabre@jeanhenrifabre
I was an entomologist, and author known for the lively style of my popular books on the lives of insects.

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