s in which he dwells, whereas the Wasp, so rich
in instinct and strategy, allowed herself to be distanced in the race by
the dull-witted Locust! Rather than adapt herself as the other does,
she persists in her incredible splendour, which betrays her from afar to
every insect-eater and in particular to the little Grey Lizard, who lies
hungrily in wait for her on the old sun-tapestried walls. She remains
ruby, emerald and turquoise amidst her grey environment; and her race
thrives none the worse.

The enemy that eats you is not the only one to be deceived; mimesis must
also play its colour-tricks on him whom you have to eat. See the Tiger
in his jungle, see the Praying Mantis on her green branch. (For the
Praying Mantis, cf. "Social Life in the Insect World", by J.H. Fabre,
translated by Bernard Miall: chapters 5 to 7.--Translator's Note.)
Astute mimicry is even more necessary when the one to be duped is an
amphitryon at whose cost the parasite's family is to be established. The
Tachinae seem to declare as much: they are grey or greyish, of a colour
as undecided as the dusty soil on which they cower while waiting for the
arrival of the huntress laden with her capture. But they dissemble in
vain: the Bembex, the Philanthus and the others see them from above,
before touching ground; they recognize them perfectly at a distance,
despite their grey costume. And so they hover prudently above the burrow
and strive, by sudden feints, to mislead the traitorous little Fly, who,
on her side, knows her business too well to allow herself to be enticed
away or to leave the spot where the other is bound to return. No, a
thousand times no: clay-coloured though they be, the Tachinae have no
better chance of attaining their ends than a host of other parasites
whose clothing is not of grey frieze to match the locality frequented,
as witness the glittering Chrysis, or the Melecta and the Crocisa, with
their white spots on a black ground.

We are also told that, the better to cozen his amphitryon, the parasite
adopts more or less the same shape and colouring; he turns himself, in
appearance, into a harmless neighbour, a worker belonging to the
same guild. Instance the Psithyrus, who lives at the expense of the
Bumble-bee. But in what, if you please, does Parnopes carnea resemble
the Bembex into whose home she penetrates in her presence? In what does
the Melecta resemble the Anthophora, who stands aside on her threshold
to let her pass? The d