The Mason-bees 



spacious and mysterious regions. I go so far 

 as to believe that the ovipositor tells the in- 

 sect nothing, or at any rate very little, of the 

 inside of the cell, whether propitious or not to 

 the development of the germ. Perhaps each 

 thrust of the instrument, provided that it 

 meets with no resistance from solid matter, 

 lays the egg, to whose lot there falls at one 

 time good, wholesome food, at another mere 

 refuse. 



These anomalies call for more conclusive 

 proofs than the rough deductions drawn from 

 the nature of the horny ovipositor. We must 

 ascertain In a direct fashion whether the cell 

 into which the auger has been driven several 

 times over actually contains several occupants 

 In addition to the larva of the Mason-bee. 

 When the Leucospes had finished their bo- 

 rings, I waited a few days longer so as to give 

 the young grubs time to develop a little, which 

 would make my examination easier. I then 

 moved the tiles to the table in my study, in 

 order to Investigate their secrets with the 

 most scrupulous care. And here such a dis- 

 appointment as I have rarely known awaited 

 me. The cells which I had seen, actually seen, 

 with my own eyes, pierced by the probe two 

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