THE EUMENES 215 



cause: perhaps I had injured the frail grub when 

 demolishing the fortress; a splinter of masonry had 

 bruised it when I forced open the hard dome with 

 my knife; a too sudden exposure to the sun had sur- 

 prised it when I withdrew it from the darkness of its 

 cell; the open air might have dried up its moisture. 

 I did the best I could to remedy all these probable 

 reasons of failure. I went to work with every possible 

 caution in breaking open the home; I cast the shadow 

 of my body over the nest, to save the grub from sun- 

 stroke; I at once transferred larva and provisions into a 

 glass tube and placed this tube in a box which I carried 

 in my hand, to minimize the jolting on the journey. 

 Nothing was of avail: the larva, when taken from its 

 dwelling, always allowed itself to pine away. 



For a long time I persisted in explaining my want of 

 success by the difficulties attending the removal. 

 Eiimenes 'Amedei's cell is a strong casket which cannot 

 be forced without sustaining a shock; and the demoli- 

 tion of a work of this kind entails such varied accidents 

 that we are always liable to think that the worm has 

 been bruised by the wreckage. As for carrying home 

 the nest intact on its support, with a view to opening it 

 with greater care than is permitted by a rough-and-ready 

 operation in the fields, that is out of the question: the 

 nest nearly always stands on an immovable rock or on 

 some big stone forming part of a wall. If I failed in my 

 attempts at rearing, it was because the larva had suffered 

 when I was breaking up her house. The reason seemed 

 a good one ; and I let it go at that. 



