THE GRAVE-DIGGEK. 
147 
slie 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, — ^‘haud 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 • 
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 
efforts of the grave-digging Sphex. 
