The Leucospes 



the egg itself if I would learn the secret which 

 the grub will not reveal. I therefore resume 

 my observations in the first fortnight of July, 

 when the Leucospes are beginning to visit 

 busily both Mason-bees' nests. The pebbles 

 in the waste-lands supply me with plenty of 

 buildings of the Chalicodoma of the Walls; 

 the byres scattered here and there in the fields 

 give me, under their dilapidated roofs, in 

 fragments broken off with the chisel, the edi- 

 fices of the Chalicodoma of the Sheds. I am 

 anxious not to complete the destruction of my 

 home hives, already so sorely tried by my ex- 

 periments ; they have taught me much and can 

 teach me more. Alien colonies, picked up 

 more or less everywhere, provide me with my 

 booty. With my lens in one hand and my 

 forceps in the other, I go through my collec- 

 tion on the sarhe day, with the prudence and 

 care which only the laboratory-table permits. 

 The results at first fall far short of my ex- 

 pectations. I see nothing that I have not seen 

 before. I make fresh expeditions, after a 

 few days' interval; I bring back fresh loads 

 of lumps of mortar, until at last fortune 

 smiles upon me. 



Reason was not at fault. Each thrust 

 305 



