44 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE chap. 



with honey, and lays her egg. At that mo- 

 ment the little larva quits the Bee and jumps 

 on to the egg, which she proceeds gradually 

 to devour. Having finished the egg, she 

 attacks the honey; but under these circum- 

 stances the activity which was at first so 

 necessary has become useless ; the legs which 

 did such good service are no longer required ; 

 and the active slim larva changes into a white 

 fleshy grub, whicji floats comfortably in the 

 honey with its mouth just below the surface. 



Even in the same group we may find great 

 differences. For instance, in the family of 

 Insects to which Bees and Wasps belong, 

 some have grub larvae, such as the Bee and 

 Ant ; some have larvae like caterpillars, such 

 as the Sawflies; and there is a group of 

 minute forms the larvae of which live inside 

 the eggs of other insects, and present very 

 remarkable and abnormal forms. 



These differences depend mainly on the 

 mode of life and the character of the food. 



