33^ The Hunting IVasps 



to scratch at a certain part of my excavations. 

 I understand : 



* Get out of that, you clumsy fellow ! ' the 

 Hymenopteron seems to say. ' I 'II show you 

 where the thing lives ! ' 



Upon her indications I dig at the required 

 spot and unearth a Grey Worm. Well done, 

 my canny Ammophila ! Did I not say that you 

 would never have raked at an empty burrow ? 



Henceforth, it is like a hunt for truffles, 

 which the Dog points out and the man extracts. 

 I continue on the same system, the Ammophila 

 showing me the place and I digging with the 

 knife. I thus obtain a second Grey Worm, 

 followed by a third and a fourth. The exhuma- 

 tion is always effected at bare spots that have 

 been turned by the pitchfork a few months 

 earlier. There is absolutely nothing to denote 

 the presence of the caterpillar from without. 

 Well, Favier, Claire, Aglae and the rest of you, 

 what have you to say ? In three hours you 

 have not been able to dig me up a single Grey 

 Worm, whereas this clever huntress supplies me 

 with as many as I want, once that I have 

 thought of commg to her assistance ! 



I have now plenty of spare pieces ; let us 

 leave the huntress her fifth prize, which she 

 unearths with my help. I will set forth in 

 numbered paragraphs the various acts of the 



