The Burrow 



other end, nor in any part whatsoever of the 

 victuals. 



A search outside the provisions reveals 

 it me at last. It is below the food, in the 

 sand itself, and has benefited by none of the 

 meticulous cares wherein mothers excel. 

 There is here not a smooth-walled chamber, 

 such as the delicate skin of the new-born 

 larva would seem to demand, but a rough, 

 irregular cavity, the result of a mere falling 

 in rather than of material ingenuity. The 

 grub is to be hatched in this rude crib, at 

 some distance from its provisions. To 

 reach the food, it will have to demolish and 

 pass through a ceiling of sand some millime- 

 tres thick. As regards her offspring, the 

 Minotaur mother is an expert in the art of 

 sausage-making, but she knows nothing at 

 all of the endearments of the cradle. 



Anxious to watch the hatching and observe 

 the growth of the larva, I install my find in 

 cells reproducing as nearly as may be the 

 natural conditions. A glass tube closed at 

 one end of the same diameter as the burrow 

 receives first a bed of moist sand to repre- 

 sent the original soil. On the surface of 

 this layer I place the egg. A little of the 

 same sand forms the ceiling through which 



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