The Empusa 



tempt them. It is a rule for them to spend 

 the cold season in a state of complete 

 abstinence. 



My cages tell me what must happen out- 

 side, during the winter. Ensconced in the 

 crannies of the rockwork, in the sunniest 

 places, the young Empusae wait, in a state of 

 torpor, for the return of the hot weather. 

 Notwithstanding the shelter of a heap of 

 stones, there must be painful moments when 

 the frost is prolonged and the snow pene- 

 trates little by little into the best-protected 

 crevices. No matter: hardier than they 

 look, the refugees escape the dangers of the 

 winter season. Sometimes, when the sun is 

 strong, they venture out of their hiding- 

 place and come to see if spring be nigh. 



Spring comes. We are in March. My 

 prisoners bestir themselves, change their 

 skin. They need victuals. My catering diffi- 

 culties recommence. The House-fly, so easy 

 to catch, is lacking in these days. I fall back 

 upon earlier Diptera : Eristales, or Drone- 

 flies. The Empusa refuses them. They 

 are too big for her and can offer too 

 strenuous a resistance. She wards off their 

 approach with blows of her mitre. 



A few tender morsels, in the shape of very 



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