Bramble-bees and Others 



find a pupa in the cell which she is sweeping? 

 She would treat the cumbersome object as she 

 would a piece of old plaster. It would be no 

 more to her than any other refuse, a bit of 

 gravel, which, seized with the mandibles, 

 crushed perhaps, would be sent to join the 

 rubbish-heap outside. Once removed from 

 the soil and exposed to the inclemencies of the 

 weather, the pupa would inevitably perish. 



I admire this intelligent foresight of the 

 maggot, which foregoes the comfort of the 

 moment for the security of the future. Two 

 dangers threaten it: to be immured in a casket 

 whence the Fly can never issue; or else to die 

 out of doors, in the unkindly air, when the 

 Bee sweeps out the restored cells. To avoid 

 this two-fold peril, it decamps before the door 

 is closed, before the July Halictus sets her 

 house in order. 



Let us now see what comes of the parasite's 

 Intrusion. In the course of June, when peace 

 is established in the Halictus' home, I dig up 

 my largest village, comprising some fifty bur- 

 rows in all. None of the sorrows of this 

 underworld shall escape me. There are four 

 of us engaged in sifting the excavated earth 

 through our fingers. What one has examined 



388 



I 



