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In the labours that concern the family the female Scarabæus receives no assistance. Alone she moulds her sphere, extracts it from the lump and rolls it backwards, with her back to her task, in the position adopted by the male Sisyphus; alone she excavates her burrow, and alone she buries the fruit of her labour.
Accepting as a primitive form that deplorably thin, phantasmal worm which excavates in the ooze an appropriately narrow shaft indicated by a dimple, or, in some cases, a swelling mound with a well-defined crater and circular pipe, the ascent of the genealogical tree is not beset with any great difficulty.
The female scorpion devours the male; "all is gone but the tail!" The female Spider delights in the flesh of her lover. The cricket also devours a small portion of her "debonair" admirer. The Ephippigera "excavates the stomach of her companion and eats him."
Whether a bird excavates its nest in earth or wood, or weaves or plasters it, the work is all done by means of two straight pieces of horn the bill. There is, however, one useful substance which aids the bird the saliva which is formed in the mucous glands of the mouth.
The Halictus parallelus excavates cells almost exactly like those of Andrena; but since the bee is smaller, the holes are smaller, though as deep. Mr. Emerton found one nest in a path a foot in depth. Another nest, discovered September 9th, was about six inches deep. The cells are in form like those of Andrena, and like them, are glazed within.
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