The Life of the Fly 



principle. I will therefore say this : whenever 

 the egg of any kind of insect is not fastened 

 to the larva destined for its food, the young 

 grub, free to select the attacking-point and to 

 change it at will, is as it were muzzled and con- 

 sumes its provisions by a sort of suction, with- 

 out inflicting any appreciable wound. This re- 

 striction is essential to the maintenance of the 

 victuals in good condition. My principle is 

 already supported by examples many and vari- 

 ous, whose depositions are all to the same 

 effect. The witnesses include, after the An- 

 thrax, the Leucospis^ and his rivals, whose 

 evidence we shall hear presently ; the Ephialtes 

 mediator,^ who feeds, in the dry brambles, on 

 the larva of the Black Psen;^ the Myodites, 

 that strange, Fly-shaped Beetle whose grub 

 consumes the larva of the Cockchafer. All — 

 Flies, Ichneumon-flies and Beetles — scrupu- 

 lously spare their foster-mother; they are care- 

 ful not to tear her skin, so that the vessel may 

 keep its liquid good to the last. 



The wholesomeness of the victuals is not 



^The Leucospis is a parasitic insect that forms the sub- 

 ject of the chapter immediately following in the Souve- 

 nirs erttomolofftgucs, but, being a Chalcidid,is not included 

 in the present volume. — Translator's Note. 



-A genus of Ichneumon-fly. — Translator's Note. 



"A species of Digger-wasp. — Translator's Note. 



50 



