The Mason- Wasps 



tually hope to see the victim's skin split and 

 the nymph appear. My hope is not at all 

 exaggerated; it is based on facts no less 

 curious which I shall describe later. 

 Events did not respond to the probabilities 

 on which I all but relied. When removed 

 from the charnel-house with their point of 

 support and put in a safe place, none of the 

 larvae settled for the nymphosis went be- 

 yond the preparatory action. This action 

 in itself, however, is eloquent enough: it 

 tells us that a remnant of life faintly ani- 

 mates the grub, since it retains power to 

 make the necessary arrangements for the 

 transformation. 



That the grub is no corpse is revealed 

 in another manner. I place in glass tubes, 

 with a plug of cotton, twelve larvae removed 

 from the Odynerus' larders. The sign of 

 latent life is the creature's freshness and its 

 hue, a soft pinky white; the sign of death 

 and corruption is a brown colouring. Well, 

 eighteen days later one of the grubs be- 

 gins to turn brown. A second is seen to 

 be dead in thirty-one days. In forty-four 

 days, six are still fresh and full. Finally, 

 the last continues in good condition for two 

 months, from the 16th of June to the 15th 

 of August. It goes without saying that, 

 200 



