The Cocoon 



enters into its composition. Its shape is that 

 of a sack open at one end with a wide cir- 

 cular mouth, closed at the other and ending 

 in a point. An eel-trap would give a very 

 fair picture of it. The edges of the mouth 

 are kept apart and permanently stretched by 

 numerous threads starting from there and 

 fastened to the adjoining walls. Lastly, the 

 texture of this sack is extremely fine and al- 

 lows us to see all the grub's proceedings. 



Things had been in this condition since the 

 day before, when I heard the larva scratching 

 in the box. I opened it and found my pris- 

 oner engaged in scraping the cardboard wall 

 with its mandibles, while its body was half 

 outside the sack. The cardboard had al- 

 ready suffered considerably and a heap of 

 tiny fragments were piled in front of the 

 opening of the hammock, to be used later. 

 For lack of other materials, the grub would 

 doubtless have employed these scrapings for 

 its building. I thought it better to provide 

 something in accordance with its tastes and 

 to give it sand. Never had Bembex-larva 

 built with such sumptuous materials. I 

 poured before the captive sand from my ink- 

 stand: blotting-sand, blue sand sprinkled 

 with little gilt mica spangles. 

 325 



