Here, among the instances most familiar to me, are some examples of these variations in the number of victims provided for the larva, victims, of course, very nearly identical in size. In the larder of the Yellow-winged Sphex, after the victualling is completed and the house shut up, two or three Crickets are sometimes found and sometimes four. Stizus ruficornis (Cf. "The Hunting Wasps": chapter 20; also "Bramble-bees and Others": chapter 9.--Translator's Note.), established in some vein of soft sandstone, places three Praying Mantes in one cell and five in another. Of the caskets fashioned by Amedeus' Eumenes (Cf. "The Mason-wasps": chapter 1.--Translator's Note.) out of clay and bits of stone, the more richly endowed contain ten small caterpillars, the more poorly furnished five. The Sand Cerceris (Cf. "The Hunting Wasps": chapter 2.--Translator's Note.) will sometimes provide a ration of eight Weevils and sometimes one of twelve or even more. My notes abound in abstracts of this kind. It is unnecessary for the purpose in hand to quote them all. It will serve our object better if I give the detailed inventory of the Bee-eating Philanthus and of the Mantis-hunting Tachytes, considered especially with regard to the quantity of the victuals. The slayer of Hive-bees is frequently in my neighbourhood; and I can obtain from her with the least trouble the greatest number of data. In September I see the bold filibuster flying from clump to clump of the pink heather pillaged by the Bee. The bandit suddenly arrives, hovers, makes her choice and swoops down. The trick is done: the poor worker, with her tongue lolling from her mouth in the death-struggle, is carried through the air to the underground den, which is often a very long way from the spot of the capture. The trickling of earthy refuse, on the bare banks, or on the slopes of footpaths, instantly reveals the dwellings of the ravisher; and, as the Philanthus always works in fairly populous colonies, I am able, by noting the position of the communities, to make sure of fruitful excavations during the forced inactivity of winter.