The Young Queens 
egg and bursts it open. The ultimate 
victor has therefore this fresh enemy to 
subdue ; but the conquest is easy, for the 
triongulin, deep in the satisfaction of its 
pre-natal hunger, clings obstinately to the 
egg, and does not even attempt to defend 
itself. It is quickly despatched; and the 
other is at last alone, and possessor of 
the precious egg it has won so well. It 
eagerly plunges its head into the opening 
its predecessor had made; and begins the 
lengthy repast that shall transform it into 
a perfect insect. But nature, that has 
decreed this ordeal of battle, has, on the 
other hand, established the prize of vic- 
tory with such miserly precision that 
nothing short of an entire egg will suffice 
for the nourishment of a single triongulin. 
So that, as we are informed by M. Mayet, 
to whom we owe the account of these dis- 
concerting adventures, there is lacking to 
our conqueror the food its last victim con- 
277 
