226 SOCIAL LIFE IN THE INSECT WORLD 



dwelling without regret and easily acquires another. 

 Often, on the other hand, the insect will be found at 

 the bottom of the burrow ; sometimes a male, some- 

 times a female, but always alone. The two sexes, 

 equally zealous in excavating their burrows, work 

 apart without collaboration. This is no family mansion 

 for the rearing of offspring ; it is a temporary dwelling, 

 made by each insect for its own benefit. 



Sometimes the burrow contains nothing but the 

 well-sinker surprised at its work : sometimes — and not 

 rarely — the hermit will be found embracing a small 

 subterranean fungus, entire or partly consumed. It 

 presses it convulsively to its bosom and will not be 

 parted from it. This is the insect's booty : its worldly 

 wealth. Scattered crumbs inform us that we have 

 surprised the beetle at a feast. 



Let us deprive the insect of its booty. We find a 

 sort of irregular, rugged, purse-like object, varying in 

 size from the largeness of a pea to that of a cherry. 

 The exterior is reddish, covered with fine warts, 

 having an appearance not unlike shagreen ; the interior, 

 which has no communication with the exterior, is 

 smooth and white. The pores, ovoidal and diaphanous, 

 are contained, in groups of eight, m long capsules. 

 From these characteristics we recognise an under- 

 ground cryptogam, known to the botanists as Hydno- 

 cystis arenaria, and a relation of the truffle. 



This discovery begins to throw a light on the habits 

 of the Bolboceras and the cause of its burrows, so 

 frequently renewed. In the calm of the twilight the 

 little truffle-hunter goes abroad, chirping softly to 

 encourage itself. It explores the soil, and interrogates 



