The Mason-Wasps 



method which succeeded so well in the case 

 of the home-comers. The insect population 

 whirls round and round in the torrid atmos- 

 phere of the glass, but indulges in no enter- 

 prise. It flounders about, decimated from 

 day to day by famine and the excessive 

 heat. At the end of a week, not a creature 

 is left alive. A heap of corpses covers the 

 ground. Incapable of any innovation in its 

 customs, the city has perished. 



This inept behaviour reminds me of the 

 story of the wild Turkeys as told by Audu- 

 bon. 1 A bait consisting of a few grains of 

 millet lures them into a short underground 

 passage, which leads to the centre of a wat- 

 tled cage. When fed to repletion, the flock 

 is ready to depart; but to use for their de- 

 parture the way by which they entered, 

 though it still yawns in the centre of the en- 

 closure, is a manoeuvre of too high an order 

 for the stupid Turkeys. This path is dark, 

 whereas daylight shines between the bars. 

 The birds therefore revolve indefinitely 

 against the trelliswork, until the trapper ar- 

 rives and wrings their necks. 



An ingenious Fly-trap is employed in our 



1 John James Audubon (1780-1851), a noted American 

 ornithologist of French descent, author of The Birds of 

 America, which was published by subscription (1827- 

 1830) at $1,000 a copy. Translator's Note. 

 252 



