ggs are laid. This is the origin of all those
corpses swinging in the Spiders' web with which the neighbourhood of
the Anthophora's dwellings is upholstered.

Thus the Sitares in the perfect state live long enough only to mate
and to lay their eggs. I have never seen one save upon the scene of
their loves, which is also that of their death; I have never surprised
one browsing on the plants near at hand, so that, though they are
provided with a normal digestive apparatus, I have grave reasons to
doubt whether they actually take any nourishment whatever. What a life
is theirs! A fortnight's feasting in a storehouse of honey; a year of
slumber underground; a minute of love in the sunlight; then death!

Once fertilized, restlessly the female at once proceeds to seek a
favourable spot wherein to lay her eggs. It was important to note
where this exact spot is. Does the female go from cell to cell,
confiding an egg to the succulent flanks of each larva, whether this
larva belong to the Anthophora or to a parasite of hers, as the
mysterious shell whence the Sitaris emerges would incline one to
believe? This method of laying the eggs, one at a time in each cell,
would appear to be essential, if we are to explain the facts already
ascertained. But then why do the cells usurped by the Sitares retain
not the slightest trace of the forcible entry which is indispensable?
And how is it that, in spite of lengthy investigations during which my
perseverance has been kept up by the keenest desire to cast some light
upon all these mysteries, how is it, I say, that I have never come
across a single specimen of the supposed parasites to which the shell
might be attributed, since this shell appears not to be a Beetle's?
The reader would hardly suspect how my slight acquaintance with
entomology was unsettled by this inextricable maze of contradictory
facts. But patience! We may yet obtain some light.

Let us begin by observing precisely at what spot the eggs are laid. A
female has just been fertilized before my eyes; she is forthwith
placed in a large glass jar, into which I put, at the same time, some
clods of earth containing Anthophora-cells. These cells are occupied
partly by larvae and partly by nymphs that are still quite white; some
are slightly open and afford a glimpse of their contents. Lastly, in
the inner surface of the cork which closes the jar I sink a
cylindrical well, a blind alley, of the same diameter as the corridors
of t