The Bee-eating Philanthus 



food than the syrup extracted from the slain, 

 I keep my insects going for a fortnight or 

 three weeks. 



It is as plain as a pikestaff: outside my 

 cages, when the opportunity offers, the Phi- 

 lanthus must also kill the Bee on her own ac- 

 count. The Odynerus asks nothing from 

 the Chrysomela but a mere condiment, the 

 aromatic juice of the rump; the other ex- 

 tracts from her victim an ample supplement 

 to her victuals, the crop full of honey. What 

 a hecatomb of Bees must not a colony of 

 these freebooters make for their personal 

 consumption, not to mention the stored pro- 

 visions! I recommend the Philanthus to 

 the signal vengeance of our Bee-masters. 



Let us go no deeper into the first causes of 

 the crime. Let us accept things as we know 

 them for the moment, with their apparent 

 or real atrocity. To feed herself, the Phi- 

 lanthus levies tribute on the Bee's crop. 

 Having made sure of this, let us consider the 

 bandit's method more closely. She does 

 not paralyse her capture according to the 

 rites customary among the Hunting Wasps; 

 she kills it. Why kill it? If the eyes 

 of our understanding be not closed, the 

 need for sudden death is clear as daylight. 

 The Philanthus proposes to obtain the hon- 

 261 



