Such a trade could never hold out if now and again my speculators were not encouraged by some success. At the moment when urgent necessity is sending up prices, one of them brings me a magnificent Gad-fly intended for the Bembex. For two hours, when the sun was at its height, he kept watch on the threshing-floor hard by, waiting for the blood-sucker, in order to catch him on the buttocks of the Mules which trot round and round trampling the corn. This gallant fellow shall have his gros sou and a slice of bread and jam as well. A second, no less fortunate, has found a fat Spider, the Epeira, for whom my Pompili are waiting. To the two sous of this fortunate youth I add a little picture for his missal. Thus are my purveyors kept going; and, after all, their help would be very inadequate if I did not take upon myself the main burden of these wearisome quests. Once in possession of the requisite prey, I transfer the huntress from my warehouse, the wire-gauze cage, to a bell-glass varying in capacity from one to three or four litres (1 3/4 to 5 or 7 pints.--Translator's Note.), according to the size and habits of the combatants; I place the victim in the arena; I expose the bell-glass to the direct rays of the sun, without which condition the executioner as a rule declines to operate; I arm myself with patience and await events. We will begin with the Hairy Ammophila, my neighbour. Year after year, when April comes, I see her in considerable numbers, very busy on the paths in my enclosure. Until June I see her digging her burrows and searching for the Grey Worm, to be placed in the meat-cellar. Her tactics are the most complex that I know and more than any other deserves to be thoroughly studied. To capture the cunning vivisector, to release her and catch her again I find an easy matter for the best part of a month; she works outside my door. I have still to obtain the Grey Worm. This means a repetition of the disappointments which I had before, when, to find a caterpillar, I was obliged to watch the Ammophila while hunting and to be guided by her hints, as the truffle-hunter is guided by the scent of his Dog. A patient exploration of the harmas, one tuft of thyme after another, does not give me a single worm. My rivals in this search are finding their game at every moment; I cannot find it even once. Yet one more reason for bowing to the superiority of the insect in the management of her affairs. My band of schoolboys get to work in the surrounding fields. Nothing, always nothing! I in my turn explore the outer world; and for ten days the pursuit of a caterpillar torments me till I lose my power of sleep. Then, at last, victory! At the foot of a sunny wall, under the budding rosettes of the panicled centaury, I find a fair supply of the precious Grey Worm or its equivalent.