The Leucospes 



or three or even four times, contained but one 

 Leucospis-grub, one alone, eating away at Its 

 Challcodoma. Others, which had also been 

 repeatedly probed, contained spoilt remnants, 

 but never a Leucospis. O holy patience, I 

 entreat thee, give me the courage to begin 

 again! Dispel the darkness and deliver me 

 from doubt! 



I begin again. The Leucospis-grub is fa- 

 miliar to me; I can recognize it, without the 

 possibility of a mistake, in the nests of both 

 the Challcodoma of the Pebbles and the 

 Challcodoma of the Sheds. All through the 

 winter, I rush about, getting my nests from 

 the roofs of old sheds and the pebbles of the 

 waste-lands; I stuff my pockets with them, fill 

 my box, load Favier's knapsack; I collect 

 enough to litter all the tables in my study; 

 and, when it is too cold out of doors, when 

 the biting mistral blows, I tear open the fine 

 silk of the cocoons to discover the inhabitant. 

 Most of them contain the Mason in the per- 

 fect state; others give me the larva of the 

 Anthrax; others — very numerous, these — give 

 me the larva of the Leucospis. And this last 

 is alone, always alone, invariably alone. The 

 whole thing is utterly incomprehensible when 

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