The Life of the Spider 



the very bodies of the subjects studied; for 

 we sometimes find a treble superposition of 

 parasites, as in the Oil-beetles; and we see the 

 maggot itself, the sinister guest at the last 

 feast of all, feed some thirty brigands with 

 its substance. 



Among the Hymenoptera, which represent 

 the most intellectual class in the world which 

 we are studying, the building-talents of our 

 wonderful Domestic Bee are certainly equal, 

 in other orders of architecture, by those of 

 more than one wild and solitary bee and not- 

 ably by the Megachile, or Leaf-cutter, a lit- 

 tle insect which is not all outside show and 

 which, to house its eggs, manufactures honey- 

 pots formed of a multitude of disks and el- 

 lipses cut with mathematical precision from 

 the leaves of certain trees. For lack of space, 

 I am unable, to my great regret, to quote the 

 beautiful and pellucid pages which J. H. 

 Fabre, with his usual conscientiousness, de- 

 votes to the exhaustive study of this admirable 

 work; nevertheless, since the occasion offers, 

 let us listen to his own words, though it be 



