200 THE LIFE AND LOVE OF THE INSECT 



on the defensive. This slide for the unsheathed weapon 

 denotes some member of the Halictus tribe, without dis- 

 tinction of size or colour. No elsewhere, in the sting- 

 bearing order, is this original sort of groove in use. It 

 is the distinctive mark, the blazon of the family. 



The works begin in April, discreetly and betrayed only 

 by tiny mounds of fresh earth. There is no animation 

 in the work-yards. The labourers show themselves very 

 seldom, so busy are they at the bottom of their pits. At 

 moments, here and there, the summit of a mole-hill moves 

 and tumbles down the slopes of the cone : it is a worker 

 coming up with her armful of rubbish and shooting it 

 outside, without showing herself in the open. Nothing 

 more for the moment. 



May arrives, gay with flowers and sunshine. The 

 navvies of April have turned themselves into harvesters. 

 At every moment, I see them settling, all befloured 

 with yellow, atop of the mole-hills turned into craters. 

 The largest is Halictus Zebrus (Walck), whom I often 

 see building her nest in the walks of my garden. 

 Let us watch her closely. When provisioning-time 

 begins, a parasite arrives, coming I know not whence. 

 She will make us witness an unbridled act of brigandage. 



In May, I visit my most populous colony daily, at ten 

 o'clock in the morning, when the victualling-operations 

 are in full swing. Seated on a low chair in the sun, with 

 my back bent and my arms upon my knees, I watch, 

 without moving, until dinner-time. What attracts me 

 is a parasite, a trumpery Gnat, the daring tyrant of 

 the Halictus. 



Has the jade a name ? I like to think so, without, 

 however, caring to waste my time in enquiries that can 

 have little interest for the reader. Facts clearly stated 



