54 INSECT LIFE iv 



are used again. Other Cerceris, as far as I know, 

 have no fixed home, transmitted from one genera- 

 tion to another. True Bohemians, they establish 

 themselves wherever the chances of their vagabond 

 life may lead them, so long as the soil suits them. 

 But C. tuberculata is faithful to her penates. The 

 projecting shelf of sandstone used by its pre- 

 decessors is used again ; it hollows out the same 

 layer of sand hollowed by its forbears, and, adding 

 its own labour to theirs, obtains deep-seated retreats 

 sometimes only visited with difficulty. The diameter 

 of the galleries would admit a thumb, and the in- 

 sect can move about easily, even when laden with the 

 prey which we shall see it capture. Their direction 

 is horizontal, from four to eight inches, then makes 

 a sudden turn downward more or less obliquely, 

 now in one direction, now in another. Except the 

 horizontal part, and the angle of the tunnel, the 

 direction seems to depend on the difficulties of the 

 ground, as is proved by the windings and changes 

 in the farthest part of this kind of canal, which is 

 half a yard in length. At the far end are the cells, 

 not numerous, and provisioned with five or six dead 

 beetles. But let us leave the details of how a 

 Cerceris builds, and turn to more wonderful facts. 



The victim chosen to feed the larvae is a large 

 weevil (Cleonus ophthalmicus). One sees the captor 

 arrive, carrying the victim between its feet, body to 

 body, head to head. It alights heavily some way 

 from the hole to complete the journey without the 

 aid of wings, and drags the prey laboriously with 

 its jaws, on ground if not vertical, at least very 

 steeply inclined, which often results in sending 



