MINOTAURUS TYPHCEUS 133 



my family. I owe to them the fact that I am able to 

 pursue my researches : let me thank them here. 



We are on the spot early in the morning. We soon find 

 a burrow with a large mole-hill formed of cylindrical 

 stoppers forced out in one lump by blows of the rammer. 

 We clear away the mound and a pit of great depth opens 

 below it. A useful reed, gathered on the way, serves me 

 as a guide, diving lower and lower down. At last, at 

 about five feet, the reed touches bottom. We are there, 

 we have reached Minotaurus' chamber. 



The pocket-trowel prudently lays things bare and we 

 see the occupants appear : the male first and, a little 

 lower, the female. When the couple are removed, a dark, 

 circular patch shows : this is the end of the column of 

 victuals. Careful now and let us dig gently ! What we 

 have to do is to cut away the central clod at the bottom 

 of the vat, to isolate it from the surrounding earth and 

 then, slipping the trowel underneath and using it as a 

 lever, to extract the block all in a lump. There ! That's 

 done it ! We possess the couple and their nest. A 

 morning of arduous digging has procured us those 

 treasures : Paul's steaming back could tell us at the price 

 of what efforts. 



This depth of five feet is not and could not be constant ; 

 numbers of causes induce it to vary, such as the degree 

 of freshness and consistency of the soil traversed, the 

 insect's passion for work and the time available, according 

 to the more or less remote date of the laying. I have 

 seen burrows go a Httle lower ; I have seen others reach 

 barely three feet. In any case, Minotaurus, to settle his 

 family, requires a lodging of exaggerated depth, such as 

 is dug by no other burrowing insect of my acquaintance. 

 Presently we shall have to ask ourselves what are the 



