y consumed. Close beside it, the other victims, quite alive
though motionless, await their respective turns and supply reserves of
victuals which are always fresh.

I am too unskilful a butcher to imitate the Wasp and myself to resort to
paralysis; moreover, the caustic liquid injected into the nerve-centres,
ammonia in particular, would leave traces of smell or flavour which
might put off my boarders. I am therefore compelled to deprive my
insects of the power of movement by killing them outright. This makes
it impracticable to provide a sufficiency of provisions beforehand in a
single supply: while one item of the ration was being consumed the
rest would spoil. One expedient alone remains to me, one which entails
constant attendance: it is to renew the provisions each day. When all
these conditions are fulfilled, the success of artificial feeding is
still not without its difficulties; nevertheless, with a little care and
above all plenty of patience, it is almost certain.

It was thus that I reared the Tarsal Bembex, which eats Anthrax-flies
and other Diptera, on young Locustidae or Mantidae; the Silky Ammophila,
whose diet consists chiefly of Measuring-worms, on small Spiders; the
pot-making Pelopaeus, a Spider-eater, on tender Acridians; the Sand
Cerceris, a passionate lover of Weevils, on Halicti; the Bee-eating
Philanthus, which feeds exclusively on Hive-bees, on Eristales and other
Flies. Without succeeding in my final aim, for reasons which I have just
explained, I have seen the Two-banded Scolia feasting greedily on the
grub of the Oryctes, which was substituted for that of the Cetonia, and
putting up with an Ephippiger taken from the burrow of the Sphex; I have
been present at the repast of three Hairy Ammophilae accepting with an
excellent appetite the Cricket that replaced their caterpillar. One
of them, as I have related, contrived to keep its ration fresh, which
enabled it to reach its full development and to spin its cocoon.

These examples, the only ones to which my experiments have extended
hitherto, seem to me sufficiently convincing to allow me to conclude
that the carnivorous larva does not have exclusive tastes. The ration
supplied to it by the mother, so monotonous, so limited in quality,
might be replaced by others equally to its taste. Variety does not
displease the larva; it does it as much good as uniformity; indeed, it
would be of greater benefit to the race, as we shall see presently.