Bramble-bees and Others 



will the third be pierced and others after that, 

 if the insect can manage them, as long as its 

 strength holds out. Too weak for these re- 

 peated borings, the males do not go far 

 through my thick plugs. If they contrive to 

 cut through the first, it is as much as they can 

 do; and, even so, they are far from always 

 succeeding. But, in the conditions presented 

 by the native stalk, they have only feeble tis- 

 sues to overcome; and then, slipping, as I 

 have said, between the cocoon and the wall, 

 which is slightly worn owing to the circum- 

 stances described, they are able to pass 

 through the remaining occupied chambers and 

 to reach the outside first, whatever their origi- 

 nal place in the stack of cells. It is just pos- 

 sible that their early eclosion forces this 

 method of exit upon them, a method which, 

 though often attempted, does not always suc- 

 ceed. The females, furnished with stronger 

 tools, make greater progress in my tubes. I 

 see some who pierce three or four partitions, 

 one after the other, and are so many stages 

 ahead before those whom they have left be- 

 hind are even hatched. While they are en- 

 gaged in this long and toilsome operation, 

 others, nearer to the orifice, have cleared a 



as 



