The Life of the Fly- 

 occupied with its work at the bottom of the 

 cell. Meanwhile, the Wasps present do not 

 interfere, remain impassive, showing that the 

 grub visited is in no peril. The stranger, in 

 fact, withdraws with a soft, gliding motion. 

 The chubby babe, a sort of indiarubber bag, 

 resumes its original volume without having 

 suffered any harm, as its appetite proves. A 

 nurse offers it a mouthful, which it accepts 

 with every sign of unimpaired vigour. As for 

 the Volucella-grub, it licks its lips after its 

 own fashion, pushing its two fangs in and out; 

 then, without further loss of time, goes and 

 repeats its probing elsewhere. 



What it wants down there, at the bottom 

 of the cells, behind the grubs, cannot be de- 

 cided by direct observation; it must be guessed 

 at. Since the visited larva remains intact, it 

 is not prey that the Volucella-grub is after. 

 Besides, if murder formed part of its plans, 

 why descend to the bottom of the cell, instead 

 of attacking the defenceless recluse straight- 

 way? It would be much easier to suck the 

 patient's juices through the actual orifice of 

 the cell. Instead of that, we see a dip, always 

 a dip and never any other tactics. 



Then what is there behind the Wasp-grub? 

 Let us try to put it as decently as possible. In 



268 



