The Professor: Avignon 



by the furious host, he would expiate his rash at- 

 tempt, stabbed by a thousand stings!" 



At this thought, rendered still more alarming 

 by the recollection of certain misadventures of 

 which I had been the victim when seeking to ob- 

 serve too closely the combs of the Hornet (Vespa 

 crabro ) , I felt a shiver of apprehension pass through 

 my body. 



Yet, to obtain light upon the question which 

 brings me hither, I must needs penetrate the fear- 

 some swarm; I must stand for whole hours, per- 

 haps all day, watching the works which I intend 

 to upset; lens in hand, I must scrutinise, unmoved 

 amid the whirl, the things that are happening in 

 the cells. The use moreover of a mask, of gloves, 

 of a covering of any kind, is impracticable, for ex- 

 treme dexterity of the fingers and complete liberty 

 of sight are essential to the investigations which 

 I have to make. No matter: even though I leave 

 this wasps'-nest with a face swollen beyond recog- 

 nition, I must to-day obtain a decisive solution of 

 the problem which has preoccupied me too long. 



My preparations are made at once: I button my 

 clothes tightly, so as to afford the Bees the least 

 possible opportunity, and I enter the heart of the 

 swarm. A few blows of the mattock, which arouse 

 a far from reassuring crescendo in the humming 

 of the Anthophorae, soon place me in possession of 

 a lump of earth ; and I beat a hasty retreat, greatly 

 astonished to find myself still safe and sound and 

 unpursued. But the lump of earth which I have 

 removed is from a part too near the surface; it 



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