IN REPUBLICS. 357 
to a fragile leaf; another abandons them 
to the current of the waters: some place 
them in the sand, like the ostrich, leaving 
them to be brought to perfection by the 
heat of the sun; others, the isolated 
mothers, prepare themselves (before lay- 
ing) the food for the larva which will 
proceed from their eggs; some, furnished 
with an instrument for this purpose, 
deposit them in the body of a living fly, 
in the larve of other insects, or in the 
skin itself of the larger animals; others, 
by means of a double saw, lodge them in 
the bark of trees. These form subterra- 
neous caverns, in which they arrange 
caterpillars near their offspring, who, on 
quitting the egg, find the food they 
require ; Others form a chamber in the 
earth, which they adorn with rose and 
poppy-leaves: they prepare for the 
nourishment of their young a paste, com- 
posed of honey and the pollen of plants; 
they deposit their eggs; their task is 
finished; they die. 
The greater number of solitary insects, 
