development and spin its cocoon; it is also possible--and the case is not
unusual--that the Cetonia-larva will soon turn brown and putrid. We then
see the Scolia itself turn brown, distended as it is with putrescent
foodstuffs, and then cease all movement, without attempting to withdraw
from the sanies. It dies on the spot, poisoned by its excessively high
game.

What can be the meaning of this sudden corruption of the victuals, followed
by the death of the Scolia, when everything appeared to have returned to
its normal condition? I see only one explanation. Disturbed in its
activities and diverted from its usual courses by my interference, the
grub, when replaced on the wound from which I extracted it, was unable to
rediscover the lode at which it was working a few minutes earlier; it
thrust its way at random into the victim's entrails; and a few untimely
bites extinguished the last sparks of vitality. Its confusion rendered it
clumsy; and the mistake cost it its life. It dies poisoned by the rich food
which, if consumed according to the rules, should have made it grow plump
and lusty.

I was anxious to observe the deadly effects of a disturbed meal in another
fashion. This time the victim itself shall disorder the grub's activities.
The Cetonia-larva, as served up to the young Scolia by its mother, is
profoundly paralysed. Its inertia is complete and so striking that it
constitutes one of the leading features of this narrative. But we will not
anticipate. For the moment, the thing is to substitute for this inert larva
a similar larva, but one not paralysed, one very much alive. To ensure that
it shall not double up and crush the grub, I confine myself to reducing it
to helplessness, leaving it otherwise just as I extracted it from its
burrow. I must also be careful of its legs and mandibles, the least touch
of which would rip open the nurseling. With a few turns of the finest wire