In my uncertainty, I try again. This time I shall not interfere, so that my
clumsiness cannot be to blame. As I described when speaking of the Cetonia-
larva, the Oryctes-larva now lies bound, quite alive, on a strip of cork.
As usual, I make a small opening in the belly, to entice the grub by means
of a bleeding wound and facilitate its access. I obtain the same negative
result. In a little while, the Oryctes is a noisome mass on which the
nurseling lies poisoned. The failure was foreseen: to the difficulties
presented by a prey unknown to my charge was added the commotion caused by
the wriggling of an unparalysed animal.

We will try once more, this time with a victim paralysed not by me, an
unskilled operator, but by an adept whose ability ranks so high that it is
beyond discussion. Chance favours me to perfection: yesterday, in a warm
sheltered corner, at the foot of a sandy bank, I discovered three cells of
the Languedocian Sphex, each with its Ephippiger and the recently laid egg.
This is the game I want, a corpulent prey, of a size suited to the Scolia
and, what is more, in splendid condition, artistically paralysed according
to rule by a master among masters.

As usual, I install my three Ephippigers in a glass jar, on a bed of mould;
I remove the egg of the Sphex and on each victim, after slightly incising
the skin of the belly, I place a young Scolia-grub. For three or four days
my charges feed upon this game, so novel to them, without any sign of
repugnance or hesitation. By the fluctuations of the digestive canal I
perceive that the work of nutrition is proceeding as it should; things are
happening just as if the dish were a Cetonia-larva. The change of diet,
complete though it is, has in no way affected the appetite of the Scolia-
grubs. But this prosperous condition does not last long. About the fourth
day, a little sooner in one case, a little later in another, the three