. The mason-wasps [microform]. Guêpes; Wasps. The Mason-Wasps crowd, the grey visitors waited near the threshold for a less busy moment. No harm came to them. Inside the establishment, the same peace- ful relations prevail. In this respect I have the evidence of my excavations. In the un- derground charnel-house, so rich in Fly- grubs, I find no corpses of adult Flies. If the strangers were slaughtered in passing through the entrance-hall or lower down, they would fall to the bottom of the burrow promiscuously with the other rubbish. Now in this charnel-pit, as I said, there are never any dead


. The mason-wasps [microform]. Guêpes; Wasps. The Mason-Wasps crowd, the grey visitors waited near the threshold for a less busy moment. No harm came to them. Inside the establishment, the same peace- ful relations prevail. In this respect I have the evidence of my excavations. In the un- derground charnel-house, so rich in Fly- grubs, I find no corpses of adult Flies. If the strangers were slaughtered in passing through the entrance-hall or lower down, they would fall to the bottom of the burrow promiscuously with the other rubbish. Now in this charnel-pit, as I said, there are never any dead Volucellae, never a Fly of any sort. The incomers, therefore, are respected. Having done their business, they go out un- scathed. This tolerance on the part of the Wasps is surprising. And a suspicion comes to one's mind: can it be that the Volucella and the rest are not what the accepted theories of natural history call them, namely, enemies, grub-killers sacking the Wasps'-nest? We will look into this by examining th-m when they are hatched. Nothing is easier, in Sep- tember and October, than to collect the Volucella's eggs in such numbers as we please. They abound on the outer surface of the Wasps'-nest. Moreover, as with the 298. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Fabre, J. Henri (Jean Henri), 1823-1915. Toronto : McClelland & Stewart


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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectwasps, bookyear1919