nd discernment that I may possess;
but, to my utter shame and still greater regret, the secret escaped
me. Oh, how painful are those tortures of indecision, when one has to
postpone till the following year an investigation which has led to no
result!

My observations made during the spring of 1856, although purely
negative, nevertheless have an interest of their own, because they
prove the inaccuracy of certain suppositions to which the undeniable
parasitism of the Sitares naturally inclines us. I will therefore
relate them in a few words. At the end of April, the young larvae,
hitherto motionless and concealed in the spongy heap of the egg-skins,
emerge from their immobility, scatter and run about in all directions
through the boxes and jars in which they have passed the winter. By
their hurried gait and their indefatigable evolutions we readily guess
that they are seeking something which they lack. What can this
something be, unless it be food? For remember that these larvae were
hatched at the end of September and that since then, that is to say,
for seven long months, they have taken no nourishment, though they
have spent this period in the full enjoyment of their vitality, as I
was able to assure myself all through the winter by irritating them,
and not in a state of torpor similar to that of the hibernating
animals. From the moment of their hatching they are doomed, although
full of life, to an absolute abstinence of seven months' duration; and
it is natural to suppose, when we see their present excitement, that
an imperious hunger sets them bustling in this fashion.

The desired nourishment could only be the contents of the cells of the
Anthophora, since we afterwards find the Sitares in these cells. Now
these contents are limited to honey or larvae. It just happens that I
have kept some Anthophora-cells occupied by larvae or nymphs. I place
a few of these, some open, some closed, within reach of the young
Sitares, as I had already done directly after the hatching. I even
slip the Sitares into the cells: I place them on the sides of the
larva, a succulent morsel to all appearances; I do all sorts of things
to tempt their appetite; and, after exhausting my ingenuity, which
continues fruitless, I remain convinced that my famished grubs are
seeking neither the larvae nor nymphs of the Anthophora.

Let us now try honey. We must obviously employ honey prepared by the
same species of Anthophora as that at whose cost