Bramble-bees and Others 



of July. When this time comes, we must re- 

 double our watch and inspect the tubes several 

 times a day if we would obtain exact statistics 

 of the births. Well, during the six years that 

 I have studied this question, I have seen and 

 seen again, ad Jiauseam; and I am in a position 

 to declare that there is no order governing the 

 sequence of hatchings, absolutely none. The 

 first cocoon to burst may be the one at the bot- 

 tom of the tube, the one at the top, the one in 

 the middle, or in any other part, indifferently. 

 The second to be split may adjoin the first or 

 it may be removed from it by a number of 

 spaces, either above or below. Sometimes, 

 several hatchings occur on the same day, 

 within the same hour, some farther back in the 

 row of cells, some farther forward; and this 

 without any apparent reason for the simul- 

 taneity. In short, the hatchings follow upon 

 one another, I will not say haphazard — for 

 each of them has its appointed place in time, 

 determined by impenetrable causes — but at 

 any rate contrary to our calculations, based on 

 this or the other consideration. 



Had we not been deceived by our too shal- 

 low logic, we might have foreseen this result. 

 The eggs are laid in their respective cells at 



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