we shall see, side by side, the caterpillar of the ordinary shape and the
Measuring-worm, a living pair of compasses which progresses by alternately
opening out and closing; no, once more, for in the storerooms of Stizus
ruficornis and the Mantis-hunting Tachytes we see stacked beside the Mantis
the Empusa, her unrecognizable caricature.

Is it the colouring? Not at all. There is no lack of instances. What a
variety of hues and metallic reflections, distributed in a host of
different fashions, appear in the Buprestes that are hunted by the Cerceris
celebrated by Leon Dufour. (Jean Marie Leon Dufour (1780-1865) was an army
surgeon who served with distinction in several campaigns and subsequently
practised as a doctor in the Landes. He attained great eminence as a
naturalist. Cf. "The Hunting Wasps": chapter 1; also "The Life of the
Spider": chapter 1.--Translator's Note.) A painter's palette, containing
crushed gold, bronze, ruby and amethyst, would find it difficult to rival
these sumptuous colours. Nevertheless the Cerceris makes no mistake: all
this nation of insects, so indifferently attired, represents to her, as to
the entomologist, the nation of the Buprestes. The inventory of the
Hornet's larder will include Diptera clad in grey or russet frieze; others
are girdled with yellow, flecked with white, adorned with crimson lines;
others are steel-blue, ebony black, or coppery green; and underneath this
variety of dissimilar costumes we find the invariable Fly.

Let us take a concrete example. Ferrero's Cerceris (C. Ferreri, VAN DER
LIND) consumes Weevils. Her burrows are usually lined with Phynotomi and
Sitones both an indeterminate grey, and Otiorhynchi, black or tan-coloured.
Now I have sometimes happened to unearth from her cells a collection of
veritable jewels which, thanks to their bright metallic lustre, made a most
striking contrast with the sombre Otiorhynchus. These were the Rhynchites
(R. betuleti), who roll the vine-leaves into cigars. Equally magnificent,