aves but few insects in
the flowerless garden. Six bees emptied of their honey--what a
gluttonous meal! Yet the famishing creature would doubtless have
welcomed a copious addition thereto had I had the means of furnishing
it!

We need not regret the failure of bees upon this occasion; for what I
have already written is sufficient testimony of the singular habits of
this murderer of bees. I am far from denying that the Philanthus has
honest methods of earning its living; I see it among the flowers, no
less assiduous than the rest of the Hymenoptera, peacefully drinking
from their cups of nectar. The male, indeed, being stingless, knows no
other means of supporting himself. The mothers, without neglecting the
flowers as a general thing, live by brigandage as well. It is said of
the Labba, that pirate of the seas, that it pounces upon sea-birds as
they rise from the waves with captured fish in their beaks. With a blow
of the beak delivered in the hollow of the stomach, the aggressor forces
the victim to drop its prey, and promptly catches it as it falls. The
victim at least escapes with nothing worse than a blow at the base of
the neck. The Philanthus, less scrupulous, falls upon the bee, stabs it
to death and makes it disgorge in order to nourish herself upon its
honey.

Nourish, I say, and I do not withdraw the expression. To support my
statement I have better reasons than those already presented. In the
cages in which various predatory Hymenoptera whose warlike habits I am
studying are confined, waiting until I have procured the desired
prey--not always an easy proceeding--I have planted a few heads of
flowers and a couple of thistle-heads sprinkled with drops of honey,
renewed at need. On these my captives feed. In the case of the
Philanthus the honeyed flowers, although welcomed, are not
indispensable. It is enough if from time to time I place in the cage a
few living bees. Half a dozen a day is about the proper allowance. With
no other diet than the honey extracted from their victims I keep my
specimens of Philanthus for a fortnight and three weeks.

So much is plain: in a state of freedom, when occasion offers, the
Philanthus must kill on her own account as she does in captivity. The
Odynerus asks nothing of the Chrysomela but a simple condiment, the
aromatic juice of the anal pouch; the Philanthus demands a full diet, or
at least a notable supplement thereto, in the form of the contents of
the stomach. What a h