The Volucella 



do in this abode where there are no corpses? 

 Do they attack the healthy? Their continual 

 visits from cell to cell would at first make one 

 think so; but we shall soon be undeceived if 

 we observe their movements closely; and this 

 is possible with my caged colonies. 



I see them fussily crawling on the surface 

 of the combs, swaying their necks from side 

 to side and taking stock of the cells. This 

 one does not suit, nor that one either; the 

 bristly creature passes on, still in quest of 

 something, thrusting its pointed fore-part 

 now here, now there. This time, the cell ap- 

 pears to fulfil the requisite conditions. A 

 larva, glowing with health, opens wide its 

 mouth, believing its nurse to be approaching. 

 It fills the hexagonal chamber with its bulg- 

 ing sides. 



The gluttonous visitor bends and slips its 

 slender fore-part, a blade of equisite supple- 

 ness, between the wall and the inhabitant, 

 whose slack rotundity yields to the pressure 

 of this animated wedge. It plunges into the 

 cell, leaving no part of itself outside but its 

 wide hind-quarters, with the red dots of the 

 two breathing-tubes. 



It remains in this posture for some time, 

 occupied with its work at the bottom of the 

 cell. Meanwhile, the Wasps present remain 

 303 



