The Great Cerceris 



operations nor In the perhaps even more dif- 

 ficult hunting-expeditions by means of which 

 the cells are to be stocked. 



The galleries are ready in a few days, 

 especially as those of the previous year are 

 employed with the aid of a few repairs. The 

 other Cerceres, so far as I know, have no 

 fixed home, no family inheritance handed 

 down from generation to generation. A regu- 

 lar gipsy tribe, they settle singly wherever 

 the chances of their vagrant life may lead 

 them, provided that the soil suits them. But 

 the Great Cerceris is faithful to her house- 

 hold gods. The overhanging blade of sand- 

 stone that sheltered her predecessors is 

 adopted by her in her turn; she digs in the 

 same layer of sand wherein her forbears dug; 

 and, adding her own labours to those which 

 went before, she obtains deep retreats that 

 are not always easy of inspection. The dia- 

 meter of the galleries is wide enough to ad- 

 mit a man's thumb; and the insect moves 

 about in them readily, even when laden with 

 the prey which we shall see it capture. Their 

 direction, at first horizontal to a depth of four 

 to eight inches, describes a sudden bend and 

 dips more or less obliquely now to this side, 

 now to that. With the exception of the hori- 



23 



