I enclose them in spacious reed-stumps, equal in diameter to the natal cell.

The obstacle to be pierced is the natural diaphragm, a yielding partition two or three millimetres thick.

(.078 to .117 inch .-- Translator's Note.) Some free themselves; others cannot.

The less vibrant ones succumb, stopped by the frail barrier.

What would it be if they had to pass through a thickness of oak?
We are now persuaded: despite his stalwart appearance, the Capricorn is powerless to leave the tree-trunk by his unaided efforts.