nourishes the
Sitares. Could there be a similarity of habits between the two kinds
of insects? This idea threw a sudden light for me upon the subject;
but I had plenty of time in which to mature my plans: I had another
year to wait.

[Footnote 2: Jean Marie Leon Dufour (1780-1865), an army surgeon who
served with distinction in several campaigns, and subsequently
practised as a doctor in the Landes, where he attained great eminence
as a naturalist. Fabre often refers to him as the Wizard of the
Landes. Cf. _The Life of the Spider_, by J. Henri Fabre, translated by
Alexander Teixeira de Mattos: chap. i.; and _The Life of the Fly_:
chap. i.--_Translator's Note_.]

[Footnote 3: A genus of Burrowing Bee, the most numerous in species
among the British Bees.--_Translator's Note_.]

[Footnote 4: George Newport (1803-1854), an English surgeon and
naturalist, president of the Entomological Society from 1844 to 1845
and an expert in insect anatomy.--_Translator's Note_.]

When April came, my Sitaris-larvae began, as usual, to bestir
themselves. The first Bee to appear, an Osmia, is dropped alive into a
glass jar containing a few of these larvae; and after a lapse of some
fifteen minutes I inspect them through the pocket-lens. Five Sitares
are embedded in the fleece of the thorax. It is done, the problem's
solved! The larvae of the Sitares, like those of the Oil-beetles,
cling like grim death to the fleece of their generous host and make
him carry them into the cell. Ten times over I repeat the experiment
with the various Bees that come to plunder the lilac flowering outside
my window and in particular with male Anthophorae; the result is still
the same: the larvae embed themselves in the hair of the Bees' thorax.
But after so many disappointments one becomes distrustful and it is
better to go and observe the facts upon the spot; besides, the Easter
holidays fall very conveniently and afford me the leisure for my
observations.

I will admit that my heart was beating a little faster than usual when
I found myself once again standing in front of the perpendicular bank
in which the Anthophora nests. What will be the result of the
experiment? Will it once more cover me with confusion? The weather is
cold and rainy; not a Bee shows herself on the few spring flowers that
have come out. Numbers of Anthophorae cower, numbed and motionless, at
the entrance to the galleries. With the tweezers, I extract them one
by one from their lu