COLLECIED OBSKRVA'IIONS ON BKITISH SAWFLIES. l49 



stress on these hexagons, as exhibiting instinct in the 

 fabricator, though no doubt the instinct is clearly displayed, 

 as in all insect operations, but we certainly are aware that 

 ihe cells have to be constructed as closely approximate as 

 possible, not only to economise space and material, but also 

 because each cell is thus compelled to give six others the 

 greatest an)ounl of support; thus strength, economy of 

 material, and economy of space and time are attained in the 

 highest degree. Tlie more salient groups of the Piedotropha 

 are the ApidcB, Andrenidoi, Vespidce, and Formic/'dce. They 

 are the most prominent ai present for their habits and 

 economy, 



2. The CreopJioga, which store up insects of all kinds as 

 food for their young. They differ from the Poidotropha in 

 abandoning their progeny, being satisfied that they will find 

 out and appropriate the ibod provided for them. The food 

 consists of spiders, grasshoppers, cockroaches, flies of all 

 kinds, caterpillars, and occasionally the imagos of Lepi- 

 doptera. These creatures appear to be still living with 

 the parent Creophagan, but to have been stung, and 

 thus rendered numb and helpless. The slings of this 

 order seem to possess the power of reducing the victim to a 

 semi-torpid slate, in which we may hope they remain without 

 sensation ; for from this time forward ihey have neither food, 

 light, nor liberty, but remain in a perfectly helpless state, 

 until required for the food of the Creophagan. 



3. The Biophnga, or those which, in the larva slate, 

 are imprisoned in the bodies of living insects, on whose 

 tlesh they feed during the whole of their larval existence, 

 until their victim is shrivelled and reduced to a mere 

 skin, and yet retains a languid animation. The Biophagan 

 may be supposed instinctively to avoid the vital parts of its 

 prey, since, l)y destroying life, it would induce its own death ; 

 it is essential lo the well-being of the Biopiiagan that its 

 prey should retain life as long as its own life and appetite 

 endured. It generally leaves its victim before life is entirely 

 extinct, and, spinning its cocoon on the exterior, in due time 

 undergoes its final change lo lay its egg on anoliier victim, and 

 thus inaugurate another cycle of cruelty and rapine. 



It is impossible to meditate on these details and not to 

 rejoice in the belief thai the victims of this treatment are 

 not, like ourselves, sensitive to pain ; indeed, there are many 

 circumstances connected with the inquiry that lead to this 

 conclusion : it would be horrible to suppose that uiillions 



