The Great Cerceris 



which is already far-advanced. If there be 

 some bit of hard sandstone projecting like a 

 ledge, if there be naturally hollowed in the 

 ground some hole large enough to put one's 

 fist in, it will be under that shelter or in this 

 cavity that she contrives her gallery, thus 

 adding a natural vestibule to the edifice of her 

 own construction. Though no sort of com- 

 munism exists among them, these insects 

 nevertheless like to associate in small num- 

 bers ; and I have always observed their nests 

 in groups of about ten at least, with the 

 orifices, which are usually pretty far apart, 

 sometimes close enough to touch one another. 

 On a bright, sunny day, it is wonderful to 

 watch the different operations of these indus- 

 trious miners. Some patiently remove with 

 their mandibles a few bits of gravel from the 

 bottom of the pit and push the heavy mass 

 outside ; others, scraping the walls of the cor- 

 ridor with the sharp rakes of their tarsi, col- 

 lect a heap of rubbish which they sweep out 

 backwards and send streaming down the sides 

 of the slopes in a long thread of dust. It 

 was these periodical billows of sand dis- 

 charged from the galleries in process of build- 

 ing that betrayed the presence of my first 

 Cerceres to me and enabled me to discover 

 21 



