Experiments 



ter Aglae and will enable her to mark the 

 exact moment of the return of the first Bee. 

 I set the clock on the mantelpiece and my 

 watch at the same time so that we may com- 

 pare the Instant of departure and of arrival. 

 Things being thus arranged, I carry off my 

 forty captives and go to the identical spot 

 where Chalicodoma tnuraria works, In the peb- 

 bly bed of the Aygues. The trip will have a 

 double object: to observe Reaumur's Mason 

 and to set the Sicilian Mason at liberty. 

 The latter, herefore, will also have two and 

 a half miles to travel home. 



At last my prisoners are released, all of 

 them being first marked with a big white dot 

 in the middle of the thorax. 



You do not come off scot-free when hand- 

 ling one after the other forty wrathful Bees, 

 who promptly unsheathe and brandish their 

 poisoned stings. The stab Is but too often 

 given before the mark is made. My smarting 

 fingers make movements of self-defence which 

 my will is not always able to control. I take 

 hold with greater precaution for myself than 

 for the insect; I sometimes squeeze harder 

 than I ought to If I am to spare my travellers. 

 To experiment so as to lift, If possible, a tiny 

 49 



