Note 4 — Chapter xiv · THE BEMBEX

The journey was effected without damage: when I reached home, the larva was placidly eating its Flies as though nothing had happened. On the third day of captivity the provisions taken from the burrow were finished; the grub was rummaging with its pointed mouth among the heap of remains without finding anything to suit it; the dry particles taken hold of, all horny, juiceless bits, were rejected with disgust. The moment has come for me to continue the food supply. The first Flies within reach shall form my prisoner’s diet. I kill them by pressing them in my fingers, but without crushing them. The first ration consists of three Eristalis tenax and one Sarcophaga.4 This is all gobbled up in twenty-four hours. Next day I provide two Eristales, or Drone-flies, and four House-flies. It was enough for the day, but left nothing over. I went on like this for eight days, giving the grub a larger portion every morning. On the ninth day the larva refused all food and began to spin its cocoon. The full record of this eight days’ feast amounts to sixty-two pieces, composed mainly of Drone-flies and House-flies, which, added to the twenty items found whole or in pieces in the cell, brings up the total to eighty-two.