The Odyneri 



Lord be praised, the road is deserted 1 

 The journey is accomplished without 

 hindrance; the thread, my great anxiety, 

 does not break; the egg is not bruised; 

 everything is in order. The little clod of 

 earth is put in a place of safety, with the 

 cell in a horizontal position. I distribute 

 near the egg two or three of the grubs which 

 I have collected; the complete allowance of 

 provisions would cause trouble, now that 

 the cell possesses only half its enclosing wall 

 and is reduced to a semicylinder. Two 

 days later, I find the egg hatched. The 

 young larva, yellow in colour, is hanging by 

 its hinder end, head downwards. It is busy 

 with its first grub, whose skin is already 

 growing limp. The suspension-cord con- 

 sists of the short thread that supported the 

 egg, with the addition of the slough, now 

 reduced to a sort of crumpled ribbon. In 

 order to remain sheathed in the end of this 

 hollow ribbon, the hinder end of the new- 

 born larva is at first slightly constricted and 

 then swells into a button. If I disturb it 

 while at rest, or if the victuals move, the 

 larva withdraws, shrinking back upon it- 

 self, but without retreating into the ascend- 

 ing-sheath, as does the Eumenes' larva. 

 The tethering-cord does not serve as a scab- 



49 



