The Leucospes 



almost to the end of the month, decreasing 

 gradually in activity. I count as many as 

 twelve Leucospes at a time on the most 

 thickly-populated pair of tiles. The insect 

 slowly and awkwardly explores the nests. It 

 feels the surface with its antennae, which are 

 bent at a right angle after the first joint. 

 Then, motionless, with bent head, it seems to 

 meditate and to debate within itself on the 

 fitness of the spot. Is it here or somewhere 

 else that the coveted larva lies? There Is 

 nothing outside, absolutely nothing, to tell us. 

 It is a stony expanse, bumpy but yet very uni- 

 form in appearance, for the cells have disap- 

 peared under a layer of plaster, a work of 

 public interest to which the whole swarm de- 

 votes Its last days. If I myself, with my long 

 experience, had to decide upon the suitable 

 point, even If I were at liberty to make use 

 of a lens for examining the mortar grain by 

 grain and to auscultate the surface In order to 

 gather information from the sound emitted, 

 I should decline the job, persuaded In ad- 

 vance that I should fail nine times out of ten 

 and only succeed by chance. 



Where my discernment, aided by reason 

 and my optical contrivances, fails, the insect, 

 291 



