The Bear Larinus 



applied to the opposite orifice, carefully 

 collecting the granules as these are evacuated 

 by the Intestinal factory. It Is precious stuff, 

 this, very precious; and the grub will be 

 careful not to lose a scrap of It, for It 

 has naught else wherevs^Ith to plaster its 

 dwelling. 



The dropping seized Is therefore placed 

 In position at once, spread with the tips of 

 the mandibles and compressed with the fore- 

 head and rump. A few waste chips and 

 flakes, a few bits of down are torn from the 

 uncemented celling overhead; and the plas- 

 terer Incorporates them, atom by atom, with 

 the still moist putty. 



This gives, as the Inmate Increases In size, 

 a coat of rough-cast which, smoothed with 

 meticulous care, lines the whole of the cell. 

 Together with the natural wall furnished 

 by the prickly rind of the artichoke, It makes 

 a powerful bastion, far superior, as a defen- 

 sive system, to the thatched huts of the 

 Spotted Larinus, 



The plant, moreover, lends Itself to pro- 

 tracted residence. It Is slightly built but 

 slow to decay. The winds do not prostrate 

 It In the mire, supported as It Is by brush- 

 59 



