4^ INSECT LIFE m 



of his enthusiasm, and urged me to continue my 

 studies. At that recollection my old eyes still grow 

 wet with a holy emotion. Oh, bright days of illusion, 

 of faith in the future, what has become of you ! 



I hope that the reader will not be sorry to meet 

 with an extract from the pamphlet which was the 

 starting-point of my own researches, the more so 

 that it is necessary for the understanding of what 

 follows. So I will let my Master speak, only abridg- 

 ing slightly : — 



In all insect history I know of no fact more curious and 

 extraordinary than that which I am about to relate. It 

 concerns a species of Cerceris which feeds its progeny on 

 the most splendid kinds of Buprestis. Let me share with 

 you, my friend, the vivid impressions gained by studying 

 the habits of this Hymenopteron. In July 1839 a friend, 

 who lives in the country, sent me two Buprestis bifasciata, 

 an insect new to my collection, telling me that a kind of 

 wasp which was carrying one of these pretty beetles had 

 dropped it on his coat, and that a few minutes later a 

 similar wasp had let fall another on the ground. In July 

 1840, having been called in as physician by my friend, I 

 reminded him of his capture of the preceding year, and 

 asked about the circumstances. Season and place corre- 

 sponding with it, I hoped to do as much myself, but that 

 particular day was dark and chilly, unfavourable therefore 

 to the flight of Hymenoptera. Nevertheless, we made a 

 tour of inspection in the garden walks, and seeing no 

 insects I bethought myself of seeking in the ground for 

 the homes of burrowing Hymenoptera. A tiny heap of 

 sand recently thrown up, like a miniature mole -hill, 

 attracted my attention. Scratching it away, I saw that it 

 masked the orifice of a gallery descending far down. We 

 carefully dug up the ground with a spade, and soon caught 

 sight of the shining elytra of the coveted Buprestis. Soon 

 I not only found wing-cases but a whole Buprestis, nay, 



