POISON-FANG AND STILETTO 179 



and is quite ready for a second, and this time 

 a larger, fly. For a whole fortnight the little 

 Bembex flies backwards and forwards bringing 

 food to the larva ; her visits to the nest be- 

 coming more and more frequent as her charge, 

 and its appetite, grows larger. Altogether the 

 Bembex catches and carries to the nest as many 

 as sixty or seventy flies; then, the larva being 

 full fed and refusing any more food, she departs 

 for the last time, leaving her offspring to weave 

 its cocoon, and undergo its metamorphosis. 



The Bembex does not paralyze her prey, 

 after the manner of her allies, but kills it out- 

 right ; probably because, as the victim is to be 

 devoured almost at once, there is no occasion to 

 employ the more scientific method of preserving 

 it alive. 



Curiously enough, this huntress of Diptera is 

 herself victimized by a species of the very order 

 of insects that she persecutes. Several small 

 species of flies belonging to the genus Tachina 

 are parasitic upon the mining Hymenoptera; 

 and the Miltogramma of Fabre, a minute, dull- 

 coloured species with large red eyes, is especi- 

 ally dreaded by the Bembex. If when bringing 

 food to her larva she sees any of these tiny 

 parasites near her burrow, the Bembex displays 

 every sign of alarm ; she is afraid to alight, but 

 hovers uncertainly over the entrance, emitting 

 a low, plaintive hum. Meanwhile the flies, 

 generally three or four in number, wait in a 

 motionless attitude upon the ground; their 

 bright eyes steadily fixed upon the spot that 

 hides the entrance to the subterraneous chamber, 



