ertain hunting Hymenoptera, the Bembex-wasps, for instance, are
accustomed to furnish the provisions in instalments: so that the grub
may have fresh though dead game, they fill the platter each day. The
Halictus mother has not these domestic necessities, as her provisions
keep more easily; but still she might well distribute a second portion
of flour to the larvae, when their appetite attains its height. I can
see nothing else to explain the open doors of the cells during the
feeding-period.

At last the grubs, close-watched and fed to repletion, have achieved the
requisite degree of fatness; they are on the eve of being transformed
into pupae. Then and not till then the cells are closed: a big clay
stopper is built by the mother into the spreading mouth of the jug.
Henceforth the maternal cares are over. The rest will come of itself.

Hitherto we have witnessed only the peaceful details of the
housekeeping. Let us go back a little and we shall be witnesses of
rampant brigandage. In May, I visit my most populous village daily, at
about ten o'clock in the morning, when the victualling-operations are in
full swing. Seated on a low chair in the sun, with my back bent and my
arms upon my knees, I watch, without moving, until dinner-time. What
attracts me is a parasite, a trumpery Gnat, the bold despoiler of the
Halictus.

Has the jade a name? I trust so, without, however, caring to waste
my time in enquiries that can have no interest for the reader. Facts
clearly stated are preferable to the dry minutiae of nomenclature. Let
me content myself with giving a brief description of the culprit. She
is a Dipteron, or Fly, five millimetres long. (.195 inch.--Translator's
Note.) Eyes, dark-red; face, white. Corselet, pearl-grey, with five
rows of fine black dots, which are the roots of stiff bristles pointing
backwards. Greyish belly, pale below. Black legs.

She abounds in the colony under observation. Crouching in the sun,
near a burrow, she waits. As soon as the Halictus arrives from her
harvesting, her legs yellow with pollen, the Gnat darts forth and
pursues her, keeping behind her in all the turns of her oscillating
flight. At last, the Bee suddenly dives indoors. No less suddenly the
other settles on the mole-hill, quite close to the entrance. Motionless,
with her head turned towards the door of the house, she waits for the
Bee to finish her business. The latter reappears at last and, for a few
seconds, stands on the thr