anslator's Note_.]

Let us now turn our attention to the young Meloes waiting expectant
upon the camomile-flowers. There they are, ten, fifteen or more,
lodged half-way down the florets of a single blossom or in their
interstices; it therefore needs a certain degree of scrutiny to
perceive them, their hiding-place being the more effectual in that the
amber colour of their bodies merges in the yellow hue of the florets.
So long as nothing unusual happens upon the flower, so long as no
sudden shock announces the arrival of a strange visitor, the Meloes
remain absolutely motionless and give no sign of life. To see them
dipping vertically, head downwards, into the florets, one might
suppose that they were seeking some sweet liquid, their food; but in
that case they ought to pass more frequently from one floret to
another, which they do not, except when, after a false alarm, they
regain their hiding-places and choose the spot which seems to them the
most favourable. This immobility means that the florets of the
camomile serve them only as a place of ambush, even as later the
Anthophora's body will serve them solely as a vehicle to convey them
to the Bee's cell. They take no nourishment, either on the flowers or
on the Bees; and, as with the Sitares, their first meal will consist
of the Anthophora's egg, which the hooks of their mandibles are
intended to rip open.

Their immobility is, as we have said, complete; but nothing is easier
than to arouse their suspended activity. Shake a camomile-blossom
lightly with a bit of straw: instantly the Meloes leave their
hiding-places, come up and scatter in all directions on the white
petals of the circumference, running over them from one end to the
other with all the speed which the smallness of their size permits. On
reaching the extreme end of the petals, they fasten to it either with
their caudal appendages, or perhaps with a sticky substance similar to
that furnished by the anal button of the Sitares; and, with their
bodies hanging outside and their six legs free, they bend about in
every direction and stretch as far out as they can, as though striving
to touch an object out of their reach. If nothing offers for them to
seize upon, after a few vain attempts they regain the centre of the
flower and soon resume their immobility.

But, if we place near them any object whatever, they do not fail to
catch on to it with surprising agility. A blade of grass, a bit of
straw, the handl