180 FABRE'S BOOK OF INSECTS 



sun, and for half a day I followed the movements of my Flies. 

 They flitted quietly in front of the slope, a few inches away 

 from the earthy covering. They went from one Bee's nest to 

 another, but without attempting to enter. For that matter, 

 the attempt would be useless, for the galleries are too narrow 

 to admit their spreading wings. So they simply explored the 

 cliff, going to and fro, and up and down, with a flight that was 

 now sudden, now smooth and slow. From time to time I 

 saw one of them approach the wall and touch the earth 

 suddenly with the tip of her body. The proceeding took no 

 longer than the twinkling of an eye. When it was over the 

 insect rested a moment, and then resumed flight. 



I was certain that, at the moment when the Fly tapped the 

 earth, she laid her eggs on the spot. Yet, though I rushed 

 forward and examined the place with my lens, I could see no 

 egg. In spite of the closest attention I could distinguish 

 nothing. The truth is that my state of exhaustion, together 

 with the blinding light and scorching heat, made it difficult 

 for me to see anything. Afterwards, when I made the acquaint- 

 ance of the tiny thing that comes out of that egg, my failure 

 no longer surprised me ; for even in the leisure and peace of 

 my study I have the greatest difficulty in finding the infini- 

 tesimal creature. How then could I see the egg, worn out as 

 I was under the sun-baked cliff ? 



None the less I was convinced that I had seen the Anthrax 

 Flies strewing their eggs, one by one, on the spots frequented 

 by the Bees who suit their grubs. They take no precaution 

 to place the egg under cover, and indeed the structure of the 

 mother makes any such precaution impossible. The egg, that 

 delicate object, is laid roughly in the blazing sun, among grains 

 of sand, in some wrinkle of the chalk. It is the business of the 

 young grub to manage as best it can. 



The next year I continued my investigations, this time on 

 the Anthrax of the Chalicodoma, a Bee that abounds in my 

 own neighbourhood. Every morning I took the field at nine 

 o'clock, when the sun begins to be unendurable. I was pre- 



