Pomona College, Claremont, California 161 



same bee those in which the spiral turned clockwise and others in 

 which it was the reverse. Five to six such cells are thus provisioned 

 ami sealed in about as main' days, each occupying about five-eighths 

 of an inch of the tunnel. 



These eggs are hatchet! successively after an incubation period 

 of about one week. The newly-hatched larva is a footless grub 

 about 7 mm. in length. It feeds slowly at first, then more rapidly 

 and has devoured all, or nearly all, of its food in from 22 to 

 28 days, when it ceases to feed and for a period of from 15 to 19 

 days shows very little change. During the non-feeding larval 

 stage it spends most of its time in the position shown in Fig 3, 

 but occasionally indulges in a series of writhing movements which 

 last for a half minute or more. At the end ot this period the 

 first moult occurs, the beginning of the pupal stage ( Fig. 11). The 

 pupa is at first white ami manifests even less movement than in the 

 previous stage, but gradually pigment begins to develop and within 

 three or tour weeks the jet black color ol the adult shows as a slaty 

 blue through the thin white outer skin. About this time the pupa 

 begins to show a bit more activity and within a tew days may be 

 found stretching out its legs and antenna' which have thus far been 

 tightly tolded against its body. This action is prophetic ot emerg- 

 ence and a tew days later the second and last molt occurs, which 

 brings it into the adult stage. It remains only for its wings to com- 

 plete their growth and harden before it is reach for flight. 



But there are obstacles ahead ol this seeker of the open air. The 

 neatly-formed partitions are yet as strong as the day they were 

 made, and there may be from three to six of them between young 

 orpifex and the light of day. That is not all, for unless some wan- 

 ton parasite has entered, there lie as many brothers and sisters, all 

 yet in their swaddling clothes — in those chambers which form the 

 only path to the out-of-doors. Some writers have suggested that 

 this first-born politely waits here in this inner chamber for the 

 younger members of the family to emerge and then humbly follows 

 them out; but my observation revealed no such modest altruism. 

 When No. 1 of a family of six emerged during a day of my absence 

 she tore away the enclosing partition, kicked the occupant of the 

 next cell back into the one she had deserted, and repeating this oper- 



