The Buprestis-hunting Cerceris 



of treasure-hunting disclosed, one after the 

 other, to our eager gaze. You should have 

 heard our exclamations each time that the 

 mine was turned upside down and new glories 

 stood revealed, rendered more brilliant still 

 by the blazing sun; or when we discovered, 

 here, larvae of all ages fastened to their prey, 

 there, the cocoons of those larvae all encrusted 

 with copper, bronze and emerald. I who 

 had been studying insects at close quarters 

 for three or four decades alas ! had 

 never witnessed such a lovely sight nor en- 

 joyed so great a treat. It only needed your 

 presence to double our delight. Our ever- 

 increasing admiration was devoted by turns 

 to those brilliant Beetles and to the marvel- 

 lous discernment, the astonishing sagacity of 

 the Cerceris who had buried and stored them 

 away. Will you believe it, of more than four 

 hundred Beetles * that we dug up, there was 

 not one but belonged to the old genus Bupre- 

 stis! Not even the very smallest mistake 

 had been made by the wise Wasp. What can 

 we not learn from this intelligent industry in 

 so tiny an insect! What value would not 



1 The 450 Buprestes unearthed belong to the following 

 species: Buprestis octoguttata; B. fasciata; B. pruni; 

 B. tarda; B. biguttata; B. micans; B. flavomaculata; B, 

 chrysostigma; and B. novemmaculata. Author's Note, 

 9 



