its position, instantly settles upon the
egg, a bridge too narrow for two, and with it reaches the surface of
the honey. The impossibility of otherwise fulfilling the two
conditions which I have stated gives to the explanation which I am
offering a degree of certainty almost equivalent to that which would
be furnished by direct observation, which is here, unfortunately,
impracticable. This presupposes, it is true, in the microscopic little
creature destined to live in a place where so many dangers threaten it
from the first, an astonishingly rational inspiration, which adapts
the means to the end with amazing logic. But is not this the
invariable conclusion to which the study of instinct always leads us?

When dropping her egg upon the honey, therefore, the Anthophora at the
same time deposits in her cell the mortal enemy of her race; she
carefully plasters the lid which closes the entrance to the cell; and
all is done. A second cell is built beside it, probably to suffer the
same fatal doom; and so on until the more or less numerous parasites
sheltered by her down are all accommodated. Let us leave the unhappy
mother to continue her fruitless task and turn our attention to the
young larva which has so adroitly secured itself board and lodging.

In opening cells whose lid is still moist, we end by discovering one
in which the egg, recently laid, supports a young Sitaris. This egg is
intact and in irreproachable condition. But now the work of
devastation begins: the larva, a tiny black speck which we see running
over the white surface of the egg, at last stops and balances itself
firmly on its six legs; then, seizing the delicate skin of the egg
with the sharp hooks of its mandibles, it tugs at it violently until
it breaks, spilling its contents, which the larva eagerly drinks up.
Thus the first stroke of the mandibles which the parasite delivers in
the usurped cell is aimed at the destruction of the Bee's egg. A
highly logical precaution! The Sitaris-larva, as we shall see, has to
feed upon the honey in the cell; the Anthophora-larva which would
proceed from that egg would require the same food; but the portion is
too small for two; so, quick, a bite at the egg and the difficulty
will be removed. The story of these facts calls for no comment. This
destruction of the cumbersome egg is all the more inevitable inasmuch
as special tastes compel the young Sitaris-grub to make its first
meals of it. Indeed we see the tiny c