Another Prober 



Leucospis. I see her, like the Leucospis, slow- 

 ly explore the ground with her antennae; 

 I see her, like the Leucospis, bravely drive her 

 dagger into the stone wall. More taken up 

 with her work, less conscious perhaps of dan- 

 ger, she pays no heed to the man who is ob- 

 serving her so closely. Where the Leucospis 

 flies, she does not budge. So great is her as- 

 surance that she comes right into my study, to 

 my work-table, and disputes my ownership of 

 the nests whose occupants I am examining. 

 She operates under my lens, she operates just 

 beside my forceps. What risk does she run? 

 What can one do to a thing so very small? 

 She is so certain of her safety that I can take 

 the Mason's nest in my hand, move it, put it 

 down and take it up again without the in- 

 sect's raising any objection : it continues its 

 work even when my magnifying-glass is placed 

 over it. 



One of these heroines has come to inspect 

 a nest of the Chalicodoma of the Walls, 1 most 



'The author divides Reamur's Mason-bees, roughly, into 

 two species: Chalicodoma muraria, or the Mason-bee of 

 the Walls, who builds her nests out of doors; and 

 C. s'tcula, or the Mason-bee of the Sheds, who builds 

 under the inner ceilings of barns. Cf. Insect Life: chap. 

 xx. The conclusions in that chapter have, however, since 

 been modified by the author in an essay entitled Some 

 further Enquiries into Mason-bees, which has not yet been 

 published in English. — Translator's Note. 



65 



