A BEE-HUNTER 169 



to find under its mandibles the honey-bag of the bee ? 

 — if, gnawing at random, it were to open the bee's 

 stomach and so drench its game with syrup ? Would 

 it approve of the mixture ? Would the little ogre pass 

 without repugnance from the gamey flavour of a corpse 

 to the scent of flowers ? To affirm or deny is useless. 

 We must see. i^et us see. 



I take the young larvae of the Philanthus, already well 

 matured, but instead of serving them with the provisions 

 buried in their cells I offer them game of my own 

 catching — bees that have filled themselves with nectar 

 among the rosemary bushes. My bees, killed by crush- 

 ing the head, are thankfully accepted, and at first I see 

 nothing to justify my suspicions. Then my nurslings 

 languish, show themselves disdainful of their food, give 

 a negligent bite here and there, and finally, one and all, 

 die beside their uncompleted meal. All my attempts 

 miscarry ; not once do I succeed in rearing my larvae 

 as far as the stage of spinning the cocoon. Yet I am 

 no novice in my duties as dry-nurse. How many pupils 

 have passed through my hands and have reached the 

 final stage in my old sardine-boxes as well as in their 

 native burrows ! I shall draw no conclusions from this 

 check, which my scruples may attribute to some un- 

 known cause. Perhaps the atmosphere of my cabinet 

 and the dryness of the sand serving them for a bed have 

 been too much for my nurslings, whose tender skins are 

 used to the warm moisture of the subsoil. Let us try 

 another method. 



To decide positively whether honey is or is not repug- 

 nant to the grubs of the Philanthus was hardly practic- 

 able by the method just explained. The first meals 



