I even believe that it takes longer. The work is so laborious and
the worker so feeble! I cannot tell how long it is since my
bantlings attained their object. Perhaps, aided by easy roads,
they had reached their fostering larvae long before the completion
of their first babyhood, the end of which they were spending before
my eyes, with no apparent purpose, in exploring their provisions.
The time had not yet come for them to change their skins and take
their seats at the table. Their fellows must still, for the most
part, be wandering through the pores of the masonry; and this was
what made my search so vain at the start.

A few facts seem to suggest that the entrance into the cell may be
delayed for several months by the difficulty of the passages.
There are a few Anthrax grubs beside the remains of pupae not far
removed from the final metamorphosis; there are others, but very
rarely, on Mason bees already in the perfect state. These grubs
are sickly and appear to be ailing; the provisions are too solid
and do not lend themselves to the delicate suckling of the worms.
Who can these laggards be but animalcules that have roamed too long
in the walls of the nest? Failing to make their entrance at the
proper time, they no longer find viands to suit them. The primary
larva of the Sitaris continues from the autumn to the following
spring. Even so the initial form of the Anthrax might well
continue, not in inactivity, but in stubborn attempts to overcome
the thick bulwark.

My young worms, when transferred with their provisions into tubes,
remained stationary, on the average, for a couple of weeks. At
last, I saw them shrink and then rid themselves of their epidermis
and become the grub which I was so anxiously expecting as the final