212 THE WONDERS OF INSTINCT 



grubs of small Butterflies. We learn this from the 

 structure, for we observe the prey selected by either 

 Hymenopteran the usual caterpillar organism. The 

 body is composed of twelve segments, not including 

 the head. The first three have true legs, the next two 

 are legless, then come two segments with prolegs, two 

 legless segments and, lastly, a terminal segment with 

 prolegs. It is exactly the same structure which we saw 

 in the Ammophila's Gray Worm. 



My old notes give the following description of the 

 caterpillars found in the nest of Eumenes Amedei: 

 " a pale green or, less often, a yellowish body, covered 

 with short white hairs; a head wider than the front 

 segment, dead-black and also bristling with hairs. 

 Length: 16 to 18 millimeters; 1 width: about 3 milli- 

 meters." 2 A quarter of a century and more has elapsed 

 since I jotted down this descriptive sketch; and to-day, 

 at Serignan, I find in the Eumenes' larder the same 

 game which I noticed long ago at Carpentras. Time 

 and distance have not altered the nature of the provisions. 



The number of morsels served for the meal of each 

 larva interests us more than the quality. In the cells 

 of Eumenes Amedei, I find sometimes five caterpillars 

 and sometimes ten, which means a difference of a 

 hundred per cent, in the quantity of the food, for the 

 morsels are of exactly the same size in both cases. Why 

 this unequal supply, which gives a double portion to 

 one larva and a single portion to another? The diners 



1 .63 to .7 inch. — Translator's Note. 

 2 .12 inch. — Translator's Note. 



