THE ADVENTURES OF A GRUB 



lying on the Bee's egg as though on a sort of raft, a young 

 Sitaris-grub. Its shape and size were those of the crea- 

 ture when it is hatched. Here, then, was the enemy 

 within the gates. 



When and how did it get in? In none of the cells 

 was I able to detect any chink by which it could have 

 entered: they were all sealed quite tightly. The para- 

 site must have established itself in the honey-warehouse 

 before the warehouse was closed. On the other hand, 

 the open cells, full of honey but as yet without an egg, 

 never contain a Sitaris. The grub must therefore gain 

 admittance either while the Bee is laying the egg, or 

 else afterwards, while she is busy plastering up the door. 

 My experiments 'have convinced me that the Sitaris 

 enters the cell in the very second when the egg is laid 

 on the surface of the honey. 



If I take a cell full of honey, with an egg floating in 

 it, and place it in a glass tube with some Sitaris-grubs, 

 they very rarely venture inside it. They cannot reach 

 the raft in safety: the honey that surrounds it is too 

 dangerous. If one of them by chance approaches the 

 honey it tries to escape as soon as it sees the sticky nature 

 of the stuff under its feet. It often ends by falling back 

 into the cell, where it dies of suffocation. It is therefore 

 certain that the grub does not leave the fleece of the Bee 



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