the narrow exit gallery and thus supplies the stable equilibrium
essential to the new birth. All is ready. It is time now for the
great act. A transversal cleft makes its appearance on the
forehead, at the bottom of the perforating diadem; a second, but
longitudinal slit divides the skull in two and extends down the
thorax. Through this cross-shaped opening, the Anthrax suddenly
appears, all moist with the humors of life's laboratory. She
steadies herself upon her trembling legs, dries her wings and
takes to flight, leaving at the window of the cell her nymphal
slough, which keeps intact for a very long period. The sand-
colored fly has five or six weeks before her, wherein to explore
the clay nests amid the thyme and to take her small share of the
joys of life. In July, we shall see her once more, busy this time
with the entrance into the cell, which is even stranger than the
exit.




CHAPTER III ANOTHER PROBER (PERFORATOR)

What can he be called, this creature whose style and title I dare
not inscribe at the head of the chapter? His name is
Monodontomerus cupreus, SM. Just try it, for fun: Mo-no-don-to-
me-rus. What a gorgeous mouthful! What an idea it gives one of
some beast of the Apocalypse! We think, when we pronounce the
word, of the prehistoric monsters: the mastodon, the mammoth, the
ponderous megatherium. Well, we are misled by the scientific
label: we have to do with a very paltry insect, smaller than the
common gnat.