More Hunting Wasps 



These gastronomical researches called 

 for a counterexperiment. The carnivorous 

 larva is killed by honey. Conversely, is the 

 mellivorous larva killed by animal food? 

 Reservations are needful here, as in the pre- 

 vious tests. We should be courting a flat 

 refusal if we offered a pinch of Locusts to 

 the larvae of the Anthophora or the Osmia,^ 

 for instance. The honey-fed insect would 

 not bite into it. There would be no use 

 whatever in trying. We must find the equiv- 

 alent of the jam-sandwich aforesaid; in 

 other words, we must give the larva its natur- 

 al fare with a mixture of animal food. The 

 addition made by my artifices shall be albu- 

 men, as found in the egg of the Hen, albu- 

 men the isomer of fibrin, which is the essen- 

 tial factor in any form of prey. 



On the other hand, the Three-horned Os- 

 mia lends herself most admirably to my 

 plans, because of her dry honey, consisting 

 for the greater part of floury pollen. I 

 therefore knead this honey with albumen, 

 graduating the dose until its weight largely 

 exceeds that of the flour. In this way I 

 obtain pastes of different degrees of con- 

 sistency, but all firm enough to bear the larva 



1 For both these Wild Bees cf. Bramble-bees and 

 Others: passim. — Translator's Note. 

 276 



