The Bembex 



for the day, but left nothing over. I went 

 on like this for eight days, giving the grub a 

 larger portion every morning. On the ninth 

 day, the larva refused all food and began to 

 spin its cocoon. The full record of this 

 eight days' feast amounts to sixty-two pieces, 

 composed mainly of Drone-flies and House- 

 flies, which, added to the twenty items found 

 whole or in pieces in the cell brings up the 

 total to eighty-two. 



It is possible that I did not rear my larva 

 with the wholesome frugality and the wise 

 economy which the mother would have 

 shown; there was perhaps some waste in the 

 daily provisions served all at one time and 

 left entirely to the grub's discretion. In 

 some respects I feel inclined to believe that 

 things do not happen just like that in the ma- 

 ternal cell, for my notes contain such details 

 as the following. In the alluvial sands of 

 the Durance, I discover a burrow which the 

 Wasp {Bembex ociilata) has just entered 

 with a Sarcophaga agricola. Inside, I find a 

 larva, numerous fragments and a few whole 

 Flies, namely, four Spharophoria scripta, 

 one Onesia viarum and two Sarcophaga 

 agricola, including the one which the Bembex 

 has just brought along before my eyes. Now 

 289 



