The Mason-Wasps 



second trip. I take advantage of her ab- 

 sence to remove with my tweezers from the 

 bottom of the cell the head of game and 

 the egg. What will the insect do on its 

 return, confronted with this empty cell, this 

 cell no longer containing the egg, the sole 

 object of her industry as a potter and her 

 skill as a huntress? 



The disappearance of the egg must be 

 obvious to the Wasp who has been robbed 

 of it, if her poor intelligence possess so 

 much as the rudimentary gleam that enables 

 us to distinguish between a thing's presence 

 and its absence. The egg, were it alone, 

 being of small dimensions, might escape the 

 mother's vigilance; but it lies upon a com- 

 paratively bulky Spider, of whose presence 

 the Pelopaeus, on returning to the nest, is 

 undoubtedly apprised by her sense of touch 

 and sight when she deposits the second vic- 

 tim beside the first. If this big object be 

 missing, the egg is missing likewise, so the 

 most elementary trace of reason that it 

 is possible to conceive ought to tell her. 

 Once more, what will the Pelopaeus do when 

 confronted with her cell, where the absence 

 of the egg henceforth renders the bringing 

 of provisions useless and absurd, unless and 

 until she repairs the loss by laying a second 



