110 FABRE'S BOOK OF INSECTS 



transparent that one can distinguish quite plainly through 

 its sides a full-grown Sitaris, struggling as though to set 

 herself at liberty. 



What is this curious shell, which does not appear to be 

 a Beetle's shell at all ? And how can this parasite reach a 

 cell which seems to be inaccessible because of its position, 

 and in which the most careful examination under the magnify- 

 ing-glass reveals no sign of violence ? Three years of close 

 observation enabled me to answer these questions, and to 

 add one of its most astonishing chapters to the story of insect 

 life. Here is the result of my inquiries. 



The Sitaris in the full-grown state lives only for a day or 

 two, and its whole life is passed at the entrance to the Antho- 

 phora's galleries. It has no concern but the reproduction of 

 the species. It is provided with the usual digestive organs, 

 but I have grave reasons to doubt whether it actually takes 

 any nourishment whatever. The female's only thought is to 

 lay her eggs. This done, she dies. The male, after cowering 

 in a crevice for a day or two, also perishes. This is the origin 

 of all those corpses swinging in the Spiders' web, with which 

 the neighbourhood of the Anthophora's dwelling is uphol- 

 stered. 



At first sight one would expect that the Sitaris, when 

 laying her eggs, would go from cell to cell, confiding an egg 

 to each of the Bee-grubs. But when, in the course of my 

 observations, I searched the Bees' galleries, I invariably 

 found the eggs of the Sitaris gathered in a heap inside the 

 entrance, at a distance of an inch or two from the opening. 

 They are white, oval, and very small, and they stick together 

 slightly. As for their number, I do not believe I am exaggerat- 

 ing when I estimate it at two thousand at least. 



Thus, contrary to what one was to some extent entitled 

 to suppose, the eggs are not laid in the cells of the Bee ; they 

 are simply dumped in a heap inside the doorway of her dwell- 

 ing. Nay more, the mother does not make any protective 

 structure for them ; she takes no pains to shield them from 



