BURGLARS 295 



meet, the individuals of the two races fight furiously, 

 in which the small size of the burglar is compensated 

 by the possession of a sting. 



The cunning of the Solenopsis is curiously like 

 the operations of the scientific human burglars, 

 who, having ascertained that certain business 

 premises are worth looting, rent some adjoining 

 property and then quietly cut through the inter- 

 vening walls or tunnel under the basement to effect 

 a secret entry that will give them access to the 

 treasures of the more industrious firm. 



One of the burrowing wasps (Tachytes), that 

 provisions its nest with stung Mantis, has its labours 

 for its prospective progeny destroyed by the grub 

 of one of the Blister Beetles (Cerocoma schce-fferi), 

 which eats up the provisions and so starves the wasp 

 grub. This is not the only beetle given to such 

 nefarious practices. There are two that belong 

 to this same family of Blister Beetles that have 

 long been known to victimize solitary bees of the 

 genus Anthophora (see page 27), and another one 

 of a neighbouring family that acts in a similar 

 unfriendly way to the Social Wasps. 



The methods of the two first (Sitaris and Meloe) 

 are so astonishing that a recital of them must 

 appear to the ordinary reader, unused to the strange 

 ways of Nature, as a bit of Munchausen literature. 

 At the same time they afford an interesting com- 

 mentary upon " unerring instinct " — and other 

 matters. Here, briefly put, is the story of the 

 Oil Beetles {Meloe). There are numerous species — 



