The Primary Larva of the Sitares 



male to the female, with the extermination 

 of that same race in view. 



In support of these deductions, here is a 

 fairly conclusive experiment, though it re- 

 produces the natural circumstances but 

 roughly. On a female taken in her cell and 

 therefore free from Sitares, I place a male 

 who is infested with them; and I keep the 

 two sexes in contact, suppressing their unruly 

 movements as far as I am able. After fifteen 

 or twenty minutes of this enforced proximity, 

 the female is invaded by one or more of the 

 larvae which at first were on the male. 

 True, experiment does not always succeed 

 under these imperfect conditions. 



By watching at Avignon the few Antho- 

 phorae that I succeeded in discovering, I 

 was able to detect the precise moment of 

 their work; and on the following Thursday, 1 

 the 21st of May, I repaired in all haste to 

 Carpentras, to witness, if possible, the en- 

 trance of the Sitares into the Bee's cells. I 

 was not mistaken: the works were in full 

 swing. 



In front of a high expanse of earth, a 

 swarm stimulated by the sun, which floods 

 it with light and heat, is dancing a crazy 



1 Thursday is the weekly holiday in French schools. — 

 Translator's Note. 



67 



