ch less familiar to us, because it touches us less nearly, is the
zoology of the insect, that is to say, the selection which it makes,
to feed its larva, of this or that animal species, to the exclusion
of others. The subject is so vast that a volume were not sufficient to
exhaust it; besides, data are lacking in the vast majority of cases.
It is reserved for a still very distant future to raise this point of
biology to the level already reached by the question of vegetable diet.
It will be enough if I contribute a few observations scattered through
my writings or my notes.

What does the Wasp addicted to a predatory life eat, of course in the
larval state? Now, to begin with, we see natural sections which adopt as
their prey different species of one and the same order, in one and
the same group. Thus the Ammophilae hunt exclusively the larvae of
the night-flying Moths. This taste is shared by the Eumenes, a very
different genus. (Cf. "The Mason-wasps" by J. Henri Fabre, translated
by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos: chapter 1.--Translator's Note.) The
Spheges and Tachytes are addicted to Orthoptera; the Cerceres, apart
from a few exceptions, are faithful to the Weevil; both the Philanthi
and the Palari capture only Hymenoptera; the Pompili specialize in
hunting the Spider; the Astata revels in the flavour of Bugs; the
Bembeces want Flies and nothing else; the Scoliae enjoy the monopoly of
the Lamellicorn-grubs; the Pelopaei favour the young Epeirae (Or
Garden Spiders. Cf. "The Life of the Spider": chapters 9 to 14 and
appendix.--Translator's Note.), the Stizi vary in opinion: of the two in
my neighbourhood, one, S. ruficornis, fills her larder with Mantes and
the other, S. tridentatus, fills it with Cicadellae (Cf. "The Life
of the Grasshopper": chapter 20.--Translator's Note.); lastly, the
Crabronidae (Any Flies akin to the House-fly.--Translator's Note.). levy
tribute upon the rabble of the Muscidae. (Hornets.--Translator's Note.)

Already you see what a magnificent classification of these game-hunters
might be made with a faithfully listed bill of fare. Natural groups
stand out, characterized merely by the identity of their victuals. I
trust that the methodical science of the future will take account of
these gastronomic laws, to the great relief of the entomological novice,
who is too often hampered by the snares of the mouth-parts, the antennae
and the nervures of the wings. I call for a classification in which the