The Life of the Fly 



Tachtyti,' devourers of Locusts; and to the 

 Eumenes, builders of clay cupolas on a bough. 



Here we are at last. This high, perpendicu- 

 lar rock, facing the south to a length of some 

 hundreds of yards and riddled with holes like 

 a monstrous sponge, is the time-honoured 

 dwelling-place of the Hairy-footed Antho- 

 phora and of her rent-free tenant, the Three- 

 horned Osmia. Here also swarm their ex- 

 terminators : the Sitaris-beetle, the parasite of 

 the Anthophora ; the Anthrax-fly, the mur- 

 derer of the Osmia. Ill-informed as to the 

 proper period, I have come rather late, on 

 the loth of September. I should have been 

 here a month ago, or even by the end of 

 July, to watch the Fly's operations. My 

 journey threatens to be fruitless: I see but a 

 few rare Anthrax-flies, hovering round the 

 face of the cliff. We will not despair, how- 

 ever, and we will begin by consulting the 

 locality. 



The Anthophora's cells contain this Bee in 

 the larval stage. Some of them provide me 

 with the Oil-beetle and the Sitaris, rare finds 

 at one time, to-day of no use to me. Others 

 contain the Melecta' in the form of a highly- 



'Hunting Wasps. — Translator's Note. 

 'A Parasitic Bee. — Translator's Note. 

 88 



