Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: May 10, 2025
As a matter of fact, the Dioxys subjected to this niggardly test does not die, for the parasite must have a tough constitution to enable it to face the disastrous hazards which lie in wait for it; but it attains barely half its ordinary dimensions, which means one-eighth of its normal bulk.
For lack of a better explanation, I will leave it at that. If my idea is not an empty fancy, we must admit that the Chalicodoma of the Shrubs was singularly well-inspired in building in mid-air. You have seen of what misfortunes the other two are victims. If I take a census of the population of a tile, many a time I find the Dioxys and the Mason-bee in almost equal proportions.
The nest of the Chalicodoma, the hemisphere of mortar on its pebble, is what she is looking for, to confide her eggs to it. But the nest is now occupied by a stranger, by the Osmia, a circumstance unknown to the Dioxys, who comes stealing up to lay her egg in the mother's absence. The dome is familiar to her. She could not know it better if she had built it herself.
But here everything happens in broad daylight; and this demands more cunning in the method of installation. Besides, it is the one favourable moment for the Dioxys. If she waits for the Mason-bee to lay, it is too late, for the parasite is not able to break down doors, as the Stelis does.
The Dioxys would have time to strike her blow during the mother's absences; but everything seems to suggest that she behaves on the pebbles as she does on the tiles. She steals a march by hiding the egg in the mass of pollen and honey. What becomes of the Mason's egg confined in the same cell with the egg of the Dioxys?
Word Of The Day
Others Looking