Note 3 — Chapter xiv · THE BEMBEX

At the end of September, around the larva of a Jules’ Bembex (Bembex Julii),3 which has reached almost a third of the size which it will finally attain, I find the following heads of game: six Echinomyia rubescens (two whole and four in pieces); four Syrphus corollæ (two complete, the other two broken up); three Gonia atra (all three untouched: one of them had that moment been brought along by the mother, which led to my discovering the burrow); two Pollenia rufescens (one untouched, the other partly eaten); one Bombylius (reduced to pulp); two Echinomyia intermedia (in bits); and two Pollenia floralis (likewise in bits): twenty pieces in all. This certainly makes a both plentiful and varied bill of fare; but, as the larva was only a third of its ultimate size, the complete menu might easily number as many as sixty items.