tructed cells of wax, as by Bees, or in nests
of paper or cardboard which the Wasps fabricate, or again in huts
built of earth in the manner of the _Chalicodoma_.

_Species which obtain for their larvae foods manufactured by
others._--Other insects have not this taste for lengthy labours, and
do not know how to execute them; but they do not intend that their
young shall be the victims of maternal lack of skill, and they display
marvellous resources to enable them to profit by the foresight of
others.

[Illustration: FIG. 15.]

The _Sitaris muralis_, a beetle whose customs have been described by
Fabre in a remarkable manner,[71] may be counted among the cleverest
in assuring to its larvae the goods of others. It puts them in a
position to profit by it, and when they are installed they know
sufficiently well what to do. The species has so long perpetuated
itself by this process that it has become, both in mother and
offspring, highly automatic. It is a hymenopterous insect which this
family, whose first vital manifestation is theft, thus levies a
contribution on. It is called the _Anthophora pilifera_, and during
the fine weather it makes a collection of honey intended to be
absorbed by its own larvae, if it had not the misfortune to be watched
by one of these intriguing Coleoptera. Wherever in Provence there is a
perpendicular wall, natural or artificial, a little cliff, a sloping
ditch, or the wall of one of those caves which the people of the
country use for putting their tools in, the _Anthophora_ hollows out
galleries, at the bottom of which he builds a certain number of
chambers. He fills each of them with honey, places in it an egg which
floats in the midst of this little lake of nectar, and closes it all
up. The _Sitaris_ covets this honey to nourish its offspring, and the
chamber to shelter it. After having discovered one of the galleries of
which I have spoken, the female _Sitaris_ comes about the beginning of
September to lay her eggs, which are numerous, being not generally
fewer than two thousand. In the following month the larvae appear; they
are black, and swarm in a little heap mixed up with the remains of
egg-shells. They vegetate in this condition for a long time, and may
still be found there in May. At this period they have become more
active, and, in order to complete their development, are thinking of
profiting by their favourable situation near the entrance to a gallery
of the Hymenoptera; when a