The Bembex 



ous activity, the insect is not expressing in its 

 own way its maternal satisfaction, its hap- 

 piness in watching over the roof of the cell to 

 which the precious egg has been entrusted? 

 As the Wasp is confining herself to her du- 

 ties outside the house, without trying to pen- 

 etrate into the sand, everything must be in 

 order inside and there is no hurry about any- 

 thing. We should only wait in vain: the 

 insect would tell us nothing more for the time 

 being. Let us therefore examine the under- 

 ground dwelling. If we scrape the dune 

 lightly with the blade of a knife at the point 

 where the Bembex was busiest, we soon dis- 

 cover the entrance-corridor, which, though 

 blocked for part of the way down, is never- 

 theless recognizable by the distinctive ap- 

 pearance of the materials moved. This 

 passage, which is as wide as one's finger and 

 straight or winding, longer or shorter accord- 

 ing to the nature and the accidents of the 

 ground, measures eight to twelve inches. It 

 leads to a single chamber, hollowed in the 

 damp sand, whose walls are not coated with 

 any kind of mortar likely to prevent a subsi- 

 dence or to lend a polish to the rough surface. 

 The ceiling will do, if it can hold out while 

 the larva is growing up; it does not matter 

 279 



