THE GRAVE-DIGGEE. 147 



she brings a stone still larger, and this is grasped in 

 the jaws, and dragged to the distance of four or five 

 inches, for fear it should roll in again. I have seen 

 her bring two stones together, one grasped beneath 

 the chin, the other in the jaws. Each time she has 

 dropped the load, she never fails, as she advances, to 

 keep the road clear by scraping with the fore shanks, 

 throwing the dust behind her. But for this, the 

 earth brought out would soon accumulate in a heap, 

 and roll back. If a dry leaf or small stick happen to 

 drop against the mouth of the hole, she seizes it with 

 her curved jaws, and carries it to a safe distance. 



I observed one filling up a hole. No doubt she 

 had deposited her egg at the bottom, and stored suf- 

 ficient provision (caterpillars or spiders disabled but 

 not killed, according to the custom of these interesting 

 insects) to last the young grub when hatched, until 

 its maturity, — "baud ignara ac non incauta futuri." 

 With her tail towards the hole, she scraped back a 

 little heap of dust ; then turned, and with her head 

 moved it about, that it might fall to the bottom. Then 

 she turned again, and did the like, repeating this pro- 

 cedure several times in succession. At length no 

 more earth would go down, for the hole was full j 

 she then rammed it two or three times with her 

 head, and flew away, leaving still, however, the 

 situation of the orifice obvious enough. 



These insects work very fast in the soft dusty 

 earth, for they are indefatigable in their exertions. 

 The Bee is the recognised symbol of industry, but 

 the labour of the bee is play compared with the 

 efibrts of the grave-digging Sphex. 



H 2 



