120 INSECT LIFE 



IX 



of dry, but well-flavoured crickets, and in yet an- 

 other of plump grasshoppers, or corpulent ephip- 

 pigers ? I confess that to me it is incomprehensible, 

 and I leave the problem to others. Observe, how- 

 ever, that the Orthoptera rank among insects as 

 the ruminants do among mammalia. Endowed 

 with a mighty paunch and a placid character, they 

 feed on herbage, and easily get corpulent. They 

 are numerous and met with everywhere, slow of 

 gait, and thus easy to catch, and, moreover, of a 

 size just right for prey. Who can say if the 

 Sphegidae — vigorous hunters which require a large 

 prey — do not find in these ruminants among insects 

 what we find in our domestic ruminants — the sheep 

 and ox, peaceful victims rich in flesh ? This is, 

 however, a mere supposition. 



I have more than a supposition in another case, 

 equally important. Do the consumers of Orthoptera 

 ever vary their diet ? Should their favourite game 

 fail, can they do with another? Does S. occitanica 

 think that except a fat ephippiger, there is 

 nothing in the wide world worth eating. Does S. 

 albisccta admit nothing but crickets to her table, 

 and S. flavipennis only grasshoppers ? Or accord- 

 ing to time, place, and circumstance, does each re- 

 place the favourite food by some equivalent ? It 

 would be of the highest importance to bring forward 

 such facts if they exist, as they would tell us 

 whether the suggestions of instinct are absolute and 

 immutable, or if they vary, and within what limits. 

 It is true that in the cell of a Cerceris are buried most 

 varied species of Buprestids or of the Weevil group, 

 which shows that she has a great latitude of choice ; 



