divided into compartments by paper partitions,
receives my charges, who are isolated one from another. These Fly-eaters
I propose to turn into Grasshopper-eaters; for their Bembex-diet I
intend to substitute the diet of a Sphex or a Tachytes. To save myself
tedious errands devoted to provisioning the refectory, I accept what
good fortune offers me at the very threshold of my door. A green
Locustid, with a short sabre bent into a reaping-hook, Phaneroptera
falcata, is ravaging the corollae of my petunias. Now is the time to
indemnify myself for the damage which she has caused me. I pick her
young, half to three-quarters of an inch in length; and I deprive her of
movement, without more ado, by crushing her head. In this condition she
is served up to the Bembex-larvae in place of their Flies.

If the reader has shared my convictions of failure, convictions based
on very logical motives, he will now share my profound surprise. The
impossible becomes possible, the senseless becomes reasonable and
the expected becomes the opposite of the real. The dish served on the
Bembeces' table for the first time since Bembeces came into the world
is accepted without any repugnance and consumed with every mark of
satisfaction. I will here set down the detailed diary of one of my
guests; that of the others would only be a repetition, save for a few
variations.

2 AUGUST, 1883.--The larva of the Bembex, as I extract it from its
burrow, is about half-developed. Around it I find only some
scanty relics of its meals, consisting chiefly of Anthrax-wings,
half-diaphanous and half-clouded. The mother would appear to have
completed the victualling by fresh contributions, added day by day. I
give the nurseling, which is an Anthrax-eater, a young Phaneroptera.
The Locustid is attacked without hesitation. This profound change in
the character of its victuals does not seem in the least to disturb the
larva, which bites straight into the rich morsel with its mandibles and
does not let go until it has exhausted it. Towards evening the drained
carcase is replaced by another, quite fresh, of the same species but
bulkier, measuring over three-quarters of an inch.

3 AUGUST.--Next day I find the Phaneroptera devoured. Nothing remains
but the dry integuments, which are not dismembered. The entire contents
have disappeared; the game has been emptied through a large opening made
in the belly. A regular Grasshopper-eater could not have operated more
skilfull