The Distribution of the Sexes 



has or has not finished laying her eggs. The 

 bramble-stump under consideration leaves a 

 free space of nearly four inches above the 

 continuous string of cocoons. Beyond it, at 

 the actual orifice, is the terminal stopper, the 

 thick plug which closes the entrance to the 

 gallery. In this empty portion of the tunnel 

 there is ample accommodation for numerous 

 cocoons. The fact that the mother has not 

 made use of it proves that her ovaries were 

 exhausted; for it is exceedingly unlikely that 

 she has abandoned first-rate lodgings to go 

 laboriously digging a new gallery elsewhere 

 and there continue her laying. 



You may say that, if the unoccupied space 

 marks the end of the laying, nothing tells us 

 that the beginning is actually at the bottom 

 of the cul-de-sac, at the other end of the tun- 

 nel. You may also say that the laying is done 

 in shifts, separated by intervals of rest. The 

 space left empty in the channel would mean 

 that one of these shifts was finished and not 

 that there were no more eggs ripe for hatch- 

 ing. In answer to these very plausible ex- 

 planations, I will say that, the sum of my ob- 

 servations — and they have been extremely 

 numerous — is that the total number of eggs 



95 



