A BEE-HUNTER 175 



elsewhere, erects itself once again. Why is the larva of 

 the Osmia, which thrives upon albumen, actually fed 

 upon honey during its early life ? Why is a vegetable 

 diet the rule in the hives of bees from the very com- 

 mencement, when the other members of the same series 

 live upon animal food ? 



If I were a ^' transformist " how I should delight in 

 this question ! Yes, I should say : yes, by the fact of its 

 germ every animal is originally carnivorous. The insect 

 in particular makes a beginning with albuminoid 

 materials. Many larvae adhere to the alimentation present 

 in the egg, as do many adult insects also. But the 

 struggle to fill the belly, which is actually the struggle 

 for life, demands something better than the precarious 

 chances of the chase. Man, at first an eager hunter of 

 game, collected flocks and became a shepherd in order to 

 profit by his possessions in time of dearth. Further pro- 

 gress inspired him to till the earth and sow ; a method 

 which assured him of a certain living. Evolution from 

 the defective to the mediocre, and from the mediocre 

 to the abundant, has led to the resources of agriculture. 

 The lower animals have preceded us on the way of 

 progress. The ancestors of the Philanthus, in the re- 

 mote ages of the lacustrian tertiary formations, lived by 

 capturing prey in both phases — both as larvae and as 

 adults ; they hunted for their own benefit as well as for 

 the family. They did not confine themselves to emptying 

 the stomach of the bee, as do their descendants to-day ; 

 they devoured the victim entire. From beginning to 

 end they remained carnivorous. Later there were 

 fortunate innovators, whose race supplanted the more 

 conservative element, who discovered an inexhaustible 





