The Leucospes 



surprise, that the great majority of the cells 

 visited by the Leucospis' probe do not con- 

 tain the one thing which the insect is seeking, 

 namely, the young larva of the Mason-bee en- 

 closed in its cocoon. Their contents consists 

 of the refuge so often met with in old Chali- 

 codoma-nests : liquid honey left unemployed, 

 because the egg has perished; spoilt provi- 

 sions, sometimes mildewed, or sometimes a 

 tarry mass; a dead larva, stiffened into a 

 brown cylinder; the shrivelled corpse of a per- 

 fect insect, which lacked the strength to effect 

 Its deliverance; dust and rubbish which has 

 come from the exit-window afterwards closed 

 up by the outer coating of plaster. The odori- 

 ferous effluvia that can emanate from these 

 relics certainly possess very diverse charac- 

 ters. A sense of smell with any subtlety at all 

 would not be deceived by this stuff, sour, 

 "high," musty or tarry as the case may be; 

 each compartment, according to its contents, 

 has a special aroma, which we might or might 

 not be able to perceive; and this aroma most 

 certainly bears no resemblance to that which 

 we may assume the much-desired fresh larva 

 to possess. If nevertheless the Leucospis does 

 not distinguish between these various cells 

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