fattened
against the coming winter; all deplored the handful of crown-pieces
which, hoarded in the hiding-place in the cupboard, would have afforded
help in difficult times. And, full of their troubles, they unfolded,
before my eyes, a scrap of flannel on which the vermin were swarming:

"Regardas, moussu! Venoun d'espeli; et ren per lour douna! Ah, pecaire!"
"Look, sir! The frost has come and we've nothing to give them! Oh, what
a misfortune!"

Poor people! What a harsh trade is yours: respectable above all others,
but of all the most uncertain! You work yourselves to death; and, when
you have almost reached your goal, a few hours of a cold night, which
comes upon you suddenly, destroys your harvest. To help these afflicted
ones seemed to me a very difficult thing. I tried, however, taking
botany as my guide; it suggested to me, as substitutes for the mulberry,
the members of closely-related families: the elm, the nettle-tree, the
nettle, the pellitory. Their nascent leaves, chopped small, were offered
to the Silk-worms. Other and far less logical attempts were made, in
accordance with the inspiration of the individuals. Nothing came of
them. To the last specimen, the new-born Silk-worms died of hunger. My
renown as a quack must have suffered somewhat from this check. Was it
really my fault? No, it was the fault of the Silk-worm, which remained
faithful to its mulberry leaf.

It was therefore in nearly the certainty of non-fulfilment that I made
my first attempts at rearing carnivorous larvae with a quarry which did
not conform with the customary regimen. For conscience' sake, more or
less perfunctorily, I endeavoured to achieve something that seemed to
me bound to end in pitiful failure. Only the Bembex-wasps, which are
plentiful in the sand of the neighbouring hills, might still afford me,
without too prolonged a search, a few subjects on which to experiment.
The Tarsal Bembex furnished me with what I wanted: larvae young enough
to have still before them a long period of feeding and yet sufficiently
developed to endure the trials of a removal.

These larva are exhumed with all the consideration which their delicate
skin demands; a number of head of game are likewise unearthed intact,
having been recently brought by the mother. They consist of various
Diptera, including some Anthrax-flies. (Cf. "The Life of the Fly":
chapters 2 and 4.--Translator's Note.) An old sardine-box, containing a
layer of sifted sand and