534 PREPARATION OF FOOD FOR INSECT-LARVZE. 
seeks for the dead body of a mole, shrew, or such other 
quadruped ; and having found one, she excavates beneath it 
a hole of sufficient dimensions to contain the body, which she 
gradually drags into it; she then de- 
posits her eggs in the carcase, so that 
the larvee, when they come forth, find 
themselves in the midst of a supply of 
carrion, on which they feed like their 
parents.—This instinct is still more 
remarkable, when an Insect whose diet 
is exclusively vegetable prepares for its 
larva a supply of animal food. Such is 
ve the case with the Pompilus, an Insect 
18. AEM BORO P HORNS: “allied to the wasp. In its perfect state 
it lives entirely on the juices of flowers; but the larvee are 
carnivorous ; and the mother provides for them the requisite 
supply of the food they require, by placing in the nest, by 
the side of the eggs, the body of a spider or caterpillar which 
she had previously killed by means of her sting. The Xylocopa, 
Fig. 275.—XyLocopa. Fig. 276.—Nest oF XYLOCOPA. 
or Carpenter-bee (fig. 275), has very analogous habits ; the 
female makes long burrows in wood, palings, &c., in which 
she excavates a series of cells (fig. 276); and in every one of 
these she deposits an egg, with a supply of pollen-paste. 
704. The instinct of support and protection to the young 
and helpless offspring, is seen in all animals in which it is 
needed; and it is particularly observable in Birds. The nests 
