xamples of
these variations in the number of victims provided for the larva,
victims, of course, very nearly identical in size. In the larder of the
Yellow-winged Sphex, after the victualling is completed and the house
shut up, two or three Crickets are sometimes found and sometimes
four. Stizus ruficornis (Cf. "The Hunting Wasps": chapter 20; also
"Bramble-bees and Others": chapter 9.--Translator's Note.), established
in some vein of soft sandstone, places three Praying Mantes in one cell
and five in another. Of the caskets fashioned by Amedeus' Eumenes (Cf.
"The Mason-wasps": chapter 1.--Translator's Note.) out of clay and bits
of stone, the more richly endowed contain ten small caterpillars, the
more poorly furnished five. The Sand Cerceris (Cf. "The Hunting Wasps":
chapter 2.--Translator's Note.) will sometimes provide a ration of eight
Weevils and sometimes one of twelve or even more. My notes abound in
abstracts of this kind. It is unnecessary for the purpose in hand to
quote them all. It will serve our object better if I give the detailed
inventory of the Bee-eating Philanthus and of the Mantis-hunting
Tachytes, considered especially with regard to the quantity of the
victuals.

The slayer of Hive-bees is frequently in my neighbourhood; and I can
obtain from her with the least trouble the greatest number of data. In
September I see the bold filibuster flying from clump to clump of the
pink heather pillaged by the Bee. The bandit suddenly arrives, hovers,
makes her choice and swoops down. The trick is done: the poor worker,
with her tongue lolling from her mouth in the death-struggle, is carried
through the air to the underground den, which is often a very long way
from the spot of the capture. The trickling of earthy refuse, on
the bare banks, or on the slopes of footpaths, instantly reveals the
dwellings of the ravisher; and, as the Philanthus always works in fairly
populous colonies, I am able, by noting the position of the communities,
to make sure of fruitful excavations during the forced inactivity of
winter.

The sapping is a laborious task, for the galleries run to a great depth.
Favier wields the pick and spade; I break the clods which he brings
down and open the cells, whose contents--cocoons and remnants of
provisions--I at once pour into a little screw of paper. Sometimes, when
the larva is not developed, the stack of Bees is intact; more often
the victuals have been consumed; but it is always possib