Change of Diet 



from putrefaction by being promptly con- 

 sumed. Close beside it, the other victims, 

 quite alive though motionless, await their re- 

 spective turns and supply reserves of victuals 

 which are always fresh. 



I am too unskilful a butcher to imitate the 

 Wasp and myself to resort to paralysis; 

 moreover, the caustic liquid injected into the 

 nerve-centres, ammonia in particular, would 

 leave traces of smell or flavour which might 

 put off my boarders. I am therefore com- 

 pelled to deprive my insects of the power of 

 movement by killing them outright. This 

 makes it impracticable to provide a sufficiency 

 of provisions beforehand in a single supply: 

 while one item of the ration was being con- 

 sumed the rest would spoil. One expedient 

 alone remains to me, one which entails con- 

 stant attendance : it is to renew the provisions 

 each day. When all these conditions are ful- 

 filled, the success of artificial feeding is still 

 not without its difficulties; nevertheless, with 

 a little care and above all plenty of patience, 

 it Is almost certain. 



It was thus that I reared the Tarsal Bem- 

 bex, which eats Anthrax-flies and other Dip- 

 tera, on young Locustidae or Mantidae; the 

 Silky Ammophila, whose diet consists chiefly 

 of Measuring-worms, on small Spiders; the 



20I 



