Cerocomae, Mylabres and Zonites 



grows fat. These differences of size, in them- 

 selves, betray parasitism. If a mother's 

 pains had amassed the food, or if the family 

 had had the industry to obtain it direct in- 

 stead of robbing others, the ration would be 

 practically equal for all; and the inequalities 

 in size would be reduced to those which often 

 occur between the two sexes. 



They speak, moreover, of a precarious, 

 risky parasitism, wherein the Meloid is not 

 sure of finding its food, which the Sitaris 

 finds so deftly, getting itself carried by the 

 Anthophora, after being born at the very 

 entrance to the Bee's galleries and leaving 

 its retreat only to slip into its host's fleece. 

 A vagabond obliged to find for itself the 

 food that suits it, the Cerocoma incurs the 

 risk of Lenten fare. 



One chapter is lacking to complete the his- 

 tory of Schaeffer's Cerocoma: that which 

 treats of the beginning, the laying of the eggs, 

 the egg itself and the primary larva. While 

 watching the development of the Mantis- 

 eating parasite, I took my precautions, in the 

 first year, to discover its starting-point. By 

 eliminating what was known to me and seek- 

 ing among the Meloidae of my neighbour- 

 hood for the size that corresponded with 

 the pseudochrysalids unearthed from the 

 163 



