In the struggle, the Scolia, curved archwise, is sometimes caught in the vice of the Cetonia, which forcibly contracts and buckles itself. Heedless of the rough embrace, the Hymenopteron does not let go with either her teeth or her ventral tip. Then follows a confused scuffle between the two locked insects, of which first one and next the other is on the top. When the grub succeeds in ridding itself of its enemy, it unrolls itself afresh, stretches itself at full length and proceeds to paddle along on its back with all possible speed. Its defensive artifices amount to no more than this. At an earlier period, when I had not yet seen for myself and was obliged to take probability for my guide, I was willing to grant it the trick of the hedgehog, who rolls himself into a ball and defies the dog. I thought that, doubled up, with a force which my fingers had some difficulty in overcoming, it would in like manner defy the Scolia, who was powerless to unroll it and disdainful of any point but that of her choice. I wished the grub to possess and I believed that it did possess this very simple and efficacious means of defence. But I had too great confidence in its ingenuity. Instead of copying the hedgehog and remaining contracted, it flees with its belly in the air; foolishly, it adopts the very posture which allows the Scolia to make the assault and to reach the point at which the fatal blow is struck. Let us pass on to others. I have just captured an Interrupted Scolia (Colpa Interrupta, Latr.), exploring the sands, no doubt in quest of game. It is important to make use of her as soon as may be, before her ardour has been cooled by the tedium of captivity. I know her prey, the grub of Anoxia Australis; I know, from my old habits of digging, the spots beloved by the worm: the sand-dunes heaped by the wind at the foot of the rosemary-shrubs on the slopes of the neighbouring hills. It will be hard work finding it, for nothing is rarer than a common thing, when it is needed in a hurry. I call in the aid of my father, an old man of ninety, but still straight as a wand. Shouldering a shovel and a three-pronged luchet, we set out under a sun in which you could cook an egg. Exerting our feeble powers in turns, we cut a trench in the sand where I hope to find the Anoxia. My hopes are not disappointed. In the sweat of my brow—never was truer word spoken—after shifting and sifting through my fingers at least two cubic yards of sandy soil, I am the fortunate possessor of two grubs. Had I not wanted them, I should have dug them up by the handful! However, my lean and costly harvest is sufficient for the moment. To-morrow, I shall send stronger arms to continue the digging.