MAN S CHIEF COMPETITORS, THE INSECTS 51 



The flowers of plants, especially the ovary with the de- 

 veloping seeds, nourish the larvae of numerous beetles, flies 

 and moths. Honey and pollen from flowers form the food of 

 the young of most bees, some beetles, and a few flies and moths, 

 and honey is eagerly consumed by the adults of many butter- 

 flies and moths and flies as wtU as beetles, wasps and other 

 insects which as young hve on leaves, as borers, in decaying 

 matter, or even as carnivores or parasites. 



As borers in the tender shoots or pith live the young of 

 many flies, Hke the Hessian fly, various moths and beetles, 

 and some saw-flies. As borers in the woody trunks of living 

 trees live many beetles, horn-tails, some moths, and a few 

 strange flies. 



The tender roots of plants are devoured by many beetles, 

 like the June bugs and their alhes, by many moths, and by 

 certain flies, as crane-flies, as well as by the mole-crickets 

 and some millepeds which burrow for them underneath the 

 ground. Young cicadas and some aphids suck the juices from 

 them. The inner bark of trees nourishes a host of types, 

 especially beetles and flies. 



Fruits of most kinds are fed upon by the young of fruit-flies, 

 at least in warm climates; moths and beetles bore into them to 

 consume the contents of the seeds; various insects, including 

 some adult moths, puncture them to secure the sugary juice; 

 when dried they are devoured by various other moths and 

 beetles. Seeds and grains of all sorts are attacked by the 

 young of beetles and of moths, even when dried and stored, 

 and also when ground up into meal. 



The stores of honey and pollen gathered by the bees form 

 important food reserves of which full use is made by other 

 insects at the bees' expense. The social bees, like honey bees, 

 mostly feed and tend their young and store the honey in wax 

 cells. Their colonies, like those of the honey wasps and a 

 few others, are continuous and their worst enemies are small 

 moths that eat the waxen cells. Large moths, like the death's 

 head, will also sometimes sip the honey. The bumble-bees 



