58 INSECT LIFE 



IV 



which lay up Coleoptera as food, seven hunt weevils 

 and one Buprestids. What singular reason confines 

 the chase of these Hymenoptera within such narrow 

 limits ? What are the motives of such an exclusive 

 selection ? What internal likeness is there between 

 the Buprestids and the weevils, outwardly quite 

 dissimilar, that both should become food for car- 

 nivorous and nearly related larvae ? No doubt 

 between such and such a victim there are differences 

 as to taste and nutritive qualities which the larvae 

 thoroughly appreciate, but there must be a far 

 graver reason than these gastronomic considerations 

 to explain these strange predilections. 



After all that has been so admirably said by L^on 

 Dufour on the long and marvellous preservation of the 

 insects destined as food for the carnivorous larvae, 

 it is needless to say that the weevils which I dug 

 up, as well as those taken from between the feet of 

 their murderer, were perfectly fresh, though permanently 

 motionless. Freshness of colour, suppleness of the 

 membranes and smallest articulations, normal con- 

 dition of the viscera, all combine to make one doubt 

 whether the inert body under one's eyes can really be 

 a corpse, all the more that even under the magnifying 

 glass it is impossible to perceive the smallest wound ; 

 and in spite of one's self one expects every moment to 

 see the insect move and walk. Yet more, in weather 

 so hot that insects which had died naturally would in 

 a few hours have become dried up and crumbly, 

 or again in damp weather which would with equal 

 rapidity have made them decay and grow mouldy. 

 I have kept specimens in glass tubes or cones of 

 paper over a month with no precautions, and wonder- 



