In the early spring I had collected all the Gardeners I could find under the stones of the neighbourhood, without distinguishing the sexes, for they are not easy to recognise merely by external characteristics.

Later on I learned by watching them that a slight excess of size was the distinctive sign of the female.

My menagerie, so ill-proportioned in the matter of sex, was therefore the result of chance.

I do not suppose this preponderance of males exists in natural conditions.

On the other hand, one never sees such numerous groups at liberty, in the shelter of the same stone.