The primary larva of the Mylabris therefore does not imitate those of the Sitaris and the Oil-beetle; it does not settle in the fleece of its host to get itself carried to the cell crammed with victuals. The task of seeking and finding the heap of food falls upon its own shoulders. The small number of the eggs that constitute a batch also leads to the same conclusion. Remember that the primary larva of the Oil-beetle, for instance, settles on any insect that happens to pay a momentary visit to the flower in which the tiny creature is on the look-out. Whether this visitor be hairy or smooth-skinned, a manufacturer of honey, a canner of animal flesh or without any determined calling, whether she be Spider, Butterfly, Fly or Beetle makes no difference: the instant the little yellow louse espies the new arrival, it perches on her back and leaves with her. And now it all depends on luck! How many of these stray travellers must be lost; how many will never be carried into a warehouse full of honey, their sole food! Therefore, to remedy this enormous waste, the mother produces an innumerable family. The Oil-beetle's batch of eggs is prodigious. Prodigious too is that of the Sitaris, who is exposed to similar misadventures. If, with her thirty or forty eggs, the Mylabris had to run the same risks, perhaps not one larva would reach the desired goal. For so strictly limited a family a safer method is needed. The young larva must not get itself carried to the game-basket, or more probably to the honey-pot, at the risk of never reaching it; it must travel on its own legs. Allowing myself to be guided by the logic of things, I shall therefore complete the story of the Twelve-spotted Mylabris as follows. The mother lays her eggs underground near the spots frequented by the foster-mothers. The recently-hatched young grubs leave their lodgings in September and travel within a restricted radius in search of burrows containing food. The little creature's sturdy legs allow of these underground investigations. The mandibles, which are just as strong, necessarily play their part. The parasite, on forcing its way into the food-pit, finds itself faced with either the egg or the young larva of the Bee. These are competitors, whom it is important to get rid of as quickly as possible. The hooks of the mandibles now come into play, tearing the egg or the defenceless grub. After this act of brigandage, which may be compared with that of the primary larva of the Sitaris ripping open and drinking the contents of the Anthophora's egg, the Meloid, now the sole possessor of the victuals, doffs its battle array and becomes the pot-bellied grub, the consumer of the property so brutally acquired. These are merely suspicions on my part, nothing more. Direct observation will, I believe, confirm them, so close is their connection with the known facts.