108 THE LIFE AND LOVE OF THE INSECT 



according to the richness of the vein. There are no 

 precise limits here. If the plastic material abound, the 

 collector is lavish with it and the provision-box becomes 

 all the more solid. Then enormous calabashes are ob- 

 tained, exceed- 

 ing a hen's egg 

 in volume and 

 formed of an 

 outer wall a 

 couple of centi- 

 metres thick. 1 

 But a mass of 

 this description 

 is beyond the 

 strength of the 

 modeller, is 

 badly handled 

 and betrays, in 

 its outline, the 

 clumsiness of an 

 over-difficult 

 task. If the 

 material be 

 rare, the insect 



FIG. 10. Work of Phanseus Milo : the largest of the 



confines its har- 



gourds observed (natural size). " Vesting to what 



is strictly neces- 

 sary ; and then, freer in its movements, it obtains a 

 magnificently regular gourd. 



The loam is probably first kneaded into a ball and then 

 scooped out into a large and very thick cup, by means of 

 the pressure of the fore-legs and the work of the shield. 

 1 -78 inch. Translator's Note. 



