84 THE TRIBES ON MY FRONTIER. 



and she has gone for the last pellet of mud to barricade 

 the door, it steps quickly forward and deposits a micro- 

 scopic egg, which is to blast all the hopes of the fond 

 parent. Out of that egg a grub will come, which, like 

 Ahab, will kill, and also take possession ; it will consume 

 first the provisions in the cell, and then eat up their rightful 

 owner. Some of the most brilliant insects that come about 

 the house belong to this class. I mean those bee-like 

 things clothed from head to foot in armour of burnished 

 green, excepting only that little patch of red which has 

 given them the name of ruby-tailed flies. When you see 

 one of these steadily dogging a wasp, flying when she flies, 

 and pausing when she pauses, you may know the errand it 

 is on. In its tragedies, as well as in its comedies, the life 

 of rational man falls below that of beings which seem 

 almost too small to afford room for much interest. 



