Now in the Eumenes we see real masons, who build their houses bit by bit with stone and mortar and run them up in the open, either on the firm rock or on the shaky support of a bough.

Hunting alternates with architecture; the insect is a Nimrod or a Vitruvius by turns.

(Marcus Vitruvius Pollio, the Roman architect and engineer .-- Translator's Note.) And, first of all, what sites do these builders select for their homes?
Should you pass some little garden-wall, facing south, in a sun-scorched corner, look at the stones that are not covered with plaster, look at them one by one, especially the largest; examine the masses of boulders, at no great height from the ground, where the fierce rays have heated them to the temperature of a Turkish bath; and, perhaps, if you seek long enough, you will light upon the structure of Eumenes Amedei.

The insect is scarce and lives apart; a meeting is an event upon which we must not count with too great confidence.

It is an African species and loves the heat that ripens the carob and the date.
It haunts the sunniest spots and selects rocks or firm stones as a foundation for its nest.