The Cocoon 297 



away in mad haste, but without any hostile 

 demonstration, though the putting down of the 

 burden left them quite free in their movements. 

 The abandoned prey, but now so ardently 

 coveted by the Tachinse, lay on the ground, for 

 all to do as they pleased with ; and not one of 

 them took any notice of it. This game lying in 

 the open air had no value for the Midges, whose 

 larvae require the shelter of a burrow. It was 

 valueless also to the suspicious Bembex, who, 

 on returning, felt it for a moment and left 

 it with scorn. A momentary break in her 

 vigilance had made her doubtful of it. 



We will end this chapter with the story of the 

 larva. Its monotonous life offers nothing re- 

 markable in the fortnight during which it eats 

 and grows. Next comes the construction of the 

 cocoon. The meagre development of the silk- 

 producing organs does not allow the grub a 

 dwelling of pure silk, composed, like those of 

 the Ammophilge and the Sphex, of several 

 wrappers, one outside the other, which protect 

 the larva and afterwards the nymph against the 

 inroads of damp in a shallow and exposed burrow 

 when the rains of autumn come and the snows 

 of winter. Nevertheless, the Bembex' burrow 

 is in a worse plight than that of the Sphex, 

 being situated at a depth of a few inches in 



