142 INSECT LIFE x 



She bestrides the insect, seizes one or both antennae 

 and sets off, pulling and dragging with all the 

 strength of loins and jaws. 



Sometimes the journey is accomplished at one 

 trial ; more frequently she leaves her load and hurries 

 home. Perhaps it occurs to her that the entrance 

 door is not wide enough for this ample morsel, 

 perhaps she bethinks her of some defect of detail 

 that might interfere with provisioning the cell. Yes, 

 she retouches her work, enlarges the doorway, levels 

 the threshold, consolidates the arch, all with a few 

 sweeps of the tarsi. Then she returns to the 

 ephippiger, lying on its back a few paces distant, 

 and drags it on again. But a new idea seems to 

 flash across her lively mind. She had visited the 

 gateway but had not looked within ; who knows if 

 all be well there ? She hastens back, leaving the 

 ephippiger midway. The interior is visited, and 

 apparently some touches as with a trowel are given 

 by the tarsi, to lend a last finish to the walls. With- 

 out lingering over these final touches the Sphex* 

 returns to her prey, and harnesses herself to the 

 antennae. Forward ! Will the journey be accom- 

 plished this time? I would not answer for it. 

 I have known a Sphex, perhaps more suspicious 

 than others, or more forgetful of the minor details 

 of architecture, set her omissions right or allay her 

 suspicions by abandoning her prey five or six times 

 successively, and hurrying to the burrow, which each 

 time was touched up a little or simply entered. It 

 is true that others go straight home, without even 

 stopping to rest. I must add that when the Sphex 

 comes home to perfect her dwelling, she does not 



