arked with a
big white dot in the middle of the thorax.

You do not come off scot-free when handling one after the other forty
wrathful Bees, who promptly unsheathe and brandish their poisoned
stings. The stab is but too often given before the mark is made. My
smarting fingers make movements of self-defence which my will is not
always able to control. I take hold with greater precaution for myself
than for the insect; I sometimes squeeze harder than I ought to if I am
to spare my travellers. To experiment so as to lift, if possible, a
tiny corner of the veil of truth is a fine and noble thing, a mighty
stimulant in the face of danger; but still one may be excused for
displaying some impatience when it is a matter of receiving forty stings
in one's fingers at one short sitting. If any man should reproach me for
being too careless with my thumbs, I would suggest that he should have a
try: he can then judge for himself the pleasures of the situation.

To cut a long story short, either through the fatigue of the journey,
or through my fingers pressing too hard and perhaps injuring some
articulations, only twenty out of my forty Bees start with a bold,
vigorous flight. The others, unable to keep their balance, wander about
on the nearest bit of grass or remain on the osier-shoots on which I
have placed them, refusing to fly even when I tickle them with a straw.
These weaklings, these cripples, these incapables injured by my fingers
must be struck off my list. Those who started with an unhesitating
flight number about twenty. That is ample.

At the actual moment of departure, there is nothing definite about the
direction taken, none of that straight flight to the nest which the
Cerceris-wasps once showed me in similar circumstances. As soon as
they are liberated, the Mason-bees flee as though scared, some in one
direction, some in exactly the opposite direction. Nevertheless, as far
as their impetuous flight allows, I seem to perceive a quick return on
the part of those Bees who have started flying towards a point opposite
to their home; and the majority appear to me to be making for those
blue distances where their nest lies. I leave this question with certain
doubts which are inevitable in the case of insects which I cannot follow
with my eyes for more than twenty yards.

Hitherto, the operation has been favoured by calm weather; but now
things become complicated. The heat is stifling and the sky becomes
stormy. A stiff