CHAPTER VI 



CEROCOM^, MYLABRES AND ZONITES 



ALL has not been told concerning the 

 Meloidae, those strange parasites, some 

 of which, the Sitares and the Oil-beetles, 

 attach themselves, like the tiniest of Lice, 

 to the fleece of various Bees to get them- 

 selves carried into the cell where they 

 will destroy the egg and afterwards feed 

 upon the ration of honey. A most unex- 

 pected discovery, made a few hundred yards 

 from my door, has warned me once again 

 how dangerous it is to generalize. To take 

 it for granted, as the mass of data hitherto 

 collected seemed to justify us in doing, that 

 all the Meloidae of our country usurp the 

 stores of honey accumulated by the Bees, 

 was surely a most judicious and natural ge- 

 neralization. Many have accepted it with- 

 out hesitation; and I for my part was one 

 of them. For on what are we to base our 

 conviction when we imagine that we are 

 stating a law? We think to take our stand 

 upon the general; and we plunge into the 

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