Larval Dimorphism 



wood of the kermes oak. The sight of them 

 sends a younger blood coursing through my 

 veins; I receive as it were the breath of a new 

 spring-time of life. Time presses; let us 

 pass on. 



Another bow on this side. I hear buzzing 

 up above, on that ledge, a colony of Sphex- 

 wasps, stabbing their Crickets. 1 We will give 

 them a friendly glance, but no more. My 

 acquaintances here are too numerous; I have 

 not the leisure to renew my former relations 

 with all of them. Without stopping, a wave 

 of the hat to the Philanthi, 2 who send the long 

 avalanches of rubbish streaming down from 

 their nests; and to Stizus ruficornis, 3 who 

 stacks her Praying Mantes 4 between two 

 flakes of sandstone; and to the Silky Ammo- 

 phila, 5 with the red legs, who collects an 

 underground store of Loopers; 6 and to the 



'Cf. Insect Life: chaps, vi to xii. — Translator's Note. 



"Philanthus apivorus, a Bee-hunting Wasp. Cf. Social 

 Life in the Insect IV or Id: chap. xiii. — Translator's Note. 



3 A Hunting Wasp. — Translator's Note. 



4 Predatory insects, akin to the Locusts and Crickets, 

 which, when at rest, adopt an attitude resembling that of 

 prayer. Cf. Social Life in the Insect World: chaps, v to 

 vii. — Translator's Note. 



6 A Digger-wasp. — Translator's Note. 



"Also known as Measuring-worms, the larvae or Cater- 

 pillars of the Geometrid Moth. — Translator's Note. 



87 



