More Hunting Wasps 



their demands. Therefore, for reasons of 

 health, this is a day of fasting and vigil. 



6 August. — Supplies are renewed with 

 two Phaneropterae. One is consumed en- 

 tirely; the other is bitten into. 



7 August. — To-day's ration is tasted and 

 then abandoned. The larva seems uneasy. 

 With its pointed mouth it explores the walls 

 of its chamber. This sign denotes the ap- 

 proach of the time for making the cocoon. 



8 August. — During the night the larva 

 has spun its silken eel-trap. It is now en- 

 crusting it with grains of sand. Then fol- 

 low, in due time, the normal phases of the 

 metamorphosis. Fed on Locustidae, a diet 

 unknown to its race, the larva passes through 

 its several stages without any more difficulty 

 than its brothers and sisters fed on Flies. 



I obtained the same success in offering 

 young Mantes for food. One of the larvae 

 thus served would even incline me to believe 

 that it preferred the new dish to the tradi- 

 tional diet of its race. Two Eristales, or 

 Drone-flies, and a Praying Mantis an inch 

 long composed its daily allowance. The 

 Drone-flies are disdained from the first 

 mouthful; and the Mantis, already tasted and 

 apparently found excellent, causes the Fly 

 to be completely forgotten. Is this an epi- 

 194 



