The Scoliae 



Issards had not enabled me to solve. To- 

 day, at my threshold, the difficult problem 

 becomes child's play. I can investigate the 

 question easily to the fullest possible extent; 

 I need not put myself out at all; at any hour 

 of the day, at any period that seems fa- 

 vourable, I have the requisite elements be- 

 fore my eyes. Ah, dear village, so poor, so 

 countrified, how happily inspired was I when 

 I came to ask of you a hermit's retreat, 

 where I could live in the company of my be- 

 loved insects and, in so doing, set down not 

 too unworthily a few chapters of their won- 

 derful history! 



According to the Italian observer Passer- 

 ini, the Garden Scolia feeds her family on 

 the larvae of Oryctes nasicornis, in the heaps 

 of old tan-waste removed from the hot- 

 houses. I do not despair of seeing this 

 colossal Wasp coming to establish herself 

 one day in my heaps of leaf-mould, in which 

 the same Scarabaeid is swarming. Her 

 rarity in my part of the country is probably 

 the only cause that has hitherto prevented 

 the realization of my wishes. 



I have just shown that the Two-banded 

 Scolia feeds in infancy on Cetonia-larvas and 

 particularly on those of C. aurata, C. morio 

 and C. floricola. These three species dwell 



49 



