VIII 



LARVA AND NYMPH 



The egg of Sphex flavipennis is white, elongated, and 

 cylindrical, slightly curved, and measuring three to four 

 millimetres in length. Instead of being laid fortui- 

 tously on any part of the victim, it is invariably placed 

 on one spot, across the cricket's breast — a little on one 

 side, between the first and second pairs of feet. The 

 eggs of the white bordered, and of the Languedocian 

 Sphex occupy a like position — the first on the breast 

 of a cricket, the second on that of an ephippiger. 

 This chosen spot must possess some highly important 

 peculiarity for the security of the young larva, as I 

 have never known it vary. 



Hatching takes place at the end of two or three 

 days. A most delicate covering splits, and one sees 

 a feeble maggot, transparent as crystal, somewhat 

 attenuated and even compressed in front, slightly 

 swelled out behind, and adorned on either side by a 

 narrow white band formed by the chief trachea. 

 The feeble creature occupies the same position as the 

 egg ; its head is, as it were, engrafted on the same 

 spot where the front end of the egg was fixed, and 

 the remainder of its body rests on the victim without 



lOI 



