96 ROUND THE YEAR 



less, as if they had accomplished their immediate 

 purpose, I could see a still more numerous crowd 

 whose restless movements showed that they were still 

 unsatisfied. On the ground among the grass ran 

 about in disorder innumerable little larvae, resembling 

 the swarms which issue from an overturned ant-hill. 

 Some mounted in haste a blade of grass, and came 

 down again with equal speed ; others clung to the 

 cottony surface of dry Cudweed, but after resting 

 there a moment, quitted it and resumed their quest. 

 In a space some ten metres square, there was hardly 

 a blade of grass which had not been explored by the 

 larvae. 



" I had plainly before me a swarm just hatched from 

 a mass of eggs laid in the earth. Some of the larvae 

 were already settled among the florets of Chamomile 

 and Groundsel, waiting the arrival of Bees, but most 

 of them had still to discover a suitable station. The 

 whole multitude, which must have amounted to many 

 thousands, could hardly be the offspring of one female, 

 in spite of all that Newport says of the astonishing 

 fertility of this Insect. 



" The strip of turf stretched a long way by the side 

 of the road, but no Meloe larvae could be seen except 

 within a few square metres adjacent to the burrows of 

 the Bees. The larvae could not have travelled far ; 

 there were no laggards, such as inevitably follow a 

 marching column. It would appear that the Meloe, 

 not laying her eggs at hazard, or leaving the young 

 to make their own way to the burrows which they were 

 destined to inhabit, chooses a place haunted by 

 Anthophora, and lays her eggs there. 



