Reflections upon Insect Psychology- 

 comes a valueless, cumbersome, hateful thing 

 when it belongs to another. Her own egg is 

 everything; the egg of her next-door neigh- 

 bour is nothing. It is flung on the dust-heap 

 like any bit of rubbish. The individual, so 

 zealous on behalf of her family, displays an 

 abominable indifference for the rest of her 

 kind. Each one for himself. In the second 

 place, I ask myself, without as yet being able 

 to find an answer to my question, how certain 

 parasites go to work to give their larva the 

 benefit of the provisions accumulated by the 

 Mason-bee. If they decide to lay their egg 

 on the victuals of the open cell, the Bee, when 

 she sees it, will not fail to cast it out; if they 

 decide to lay after the owner, they cannot do 

 so, for she blocks up the door as soon as her 

 laying is done. This curious problem must be 

 reserved for future investigation.^ 



Lastly, I stick into the paste a bit of straw 

 nearly an inch long and standing well out 

 above the rim of the cell. The insect extracts 

 it by dint of great efforts, dragging it away 

 from one side; or else, with the help of its 

 wings, it drags it from above. It darts away 



*Cf. The Life of the Fly: chaps, ii. to iv. ; and several 

 later chapters in the present volume. — Translator's Note. 

 l8l 



