of the nest, somewhere near a suitable cell, I dare say, but still
at a distance from the fostering larva, which is protected by a
thick rampart. It is for the new born grub to make its own way to
the provisions, not by violence and house breaking, of which it is
incapable, but by patiently slipping through a maze of cracks,
first tried, then abandoned, then tried again. It is a very
difficult task, even for this most slender worm, for the bee's
masonry is exceedingly compact. There are no chinks due to bad
building; no fissures due to the weather; nothing but an apparently
impenetrable homogeneity. I see but one weak part and that only in
a few nests: it is the line where the dome joins the surface of the
stone. An imperfect soldering between two materials of different
nature, cement and flint, may leave a breach wide enough to admit
besiegers as thin as a hair. Nevertheless, the lens is far from
always finding an inlet of this kind on the nests occupied by
Anthrax flies.

And so I am ready to allow that the animalcule wandering in search
of its cell has the whole area of the dome at its disposal when
selecting an entrance. Where the line auger of the Leucospis can
enter, is there not room enough for the even slimmer Anthrax grub?
True, the Leucospis possesses muscular force and a hard boring
tool. The Anthrax is extremely weak and has nothing but invincible
patience. It does at great length of time what the other,
furnished with superior implements, accomplishes in three hours.
This explains the fortnight spent by the Anthrax under the initial
form, the object of which is to overcome the obstacle of the
mason's wall, to pierce through the texture of the cocoon and to
reach the victuals.