The Halicti : a Parasite 



selves walled in when they become frail Gnats, 

 they go away and disperse in the neighbour- 

 hood of the ascending-shaft. 



My digging-operations, in fact, always re- 

 veal the pupa? outside the cells, never inside. 

 I find them enshrined, one by one, in the body 

 of the clayey earth, in a narrow recess which 

 the emigrant worm has contrived to make for 

 itself. Next spring, when the hour comes for 

 leaving, the adult insect has but to creep 

 through the rubbish, which Is easy work. 



Another and no less imperative reason com- 

 pels this change of abode on the parasite's 

 part. In July, a second generation of the 

 Halictus is procreated. The Gnat, reduced, 

 on her side, to a single brood, remains in the 

 pupa state and awaits the spring of the follow- 

 ing year before effecting her transformation. 

 The honey-gatherer resumes her work in her 

 native village; she avails herself of the pits 

 and cells constructed in the spring, saving no 

 little time thereby. The whole elaborate 

 structure has remained in good condition. It 

 needs but a few repairs to make the old house 

 habitable. 



Now what would happen if the Bee, so 

 scrupulous in matters of cleanliness, were to 



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