[1] Cf. The Sacred Beetle and Others, by J. Henri Fabre, translated by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos: chap. iv.—Translator’s Note. [↑]
[2] Sexually undeveloped females.—Translator’s Note. [↑]
[3] A widely-distributed genus of Pond-snails.—Translator’s Note. [↑]
CHAPTER X
THE COMMON WASP
In September, with my little son Paul, who lends me his good sight and his artless attention, undisturbed as yet by anxious thoughts, I sally forth at a venture, questioning the edges of the foot-paths with my glance. At twenty yards’ distance my companion has just seen rising from the ground, shooting up and flying away, now one and now another swiftly moving object, as though some tiny crater in eruption in the grass were hurling forth projectiles.
“Wasps’-nest!” he cries. “Sure as anything, a Wasps’-nest!”
We approach discreetly, fearing to attract the attention of the fierce community. It is indeed a Wasps’-nest. At the entrance to the vestibule, a round opening large enough to admit a man’s thumb, the inmates come and go, busily passing one another in opposite directions. Brrr! A shudder runs through me at the thought of the unpleasant time which we should have were we to draw the attack of the irascible soldiery by too close an [[241]]inspection. Without making further investigations, which might cost us dear, let us mark the spot. We will return at nightfall, when the whole legion will have come home from the fields.