The Life of the Fly | Page 9

anemones and sponges]. The depths of the sea are
explored with many drag nets; the soil which we tread is consistently
disregarded. While waiting for the fashion to change, I open my harmas
laboratory of living entomology; and this laboratory shall not cost the
ratepayers one farthing.


CHAPTER II
THE ANTHRAX
I made the acquaintance of the Anthrax in 1855 at Carpentras, at the
time when the life history of the oil beetles was causing me to search
the tall slopes beloved of the Anthophora bees [mason bees]. Her
curious pupae, so powerfully equipped to force an outlet for the perfect
insect incapable of the least effort, those pupae armed with a multiple
plowshare at the fore, a trident at the rear and rows of harpoons on the
back wherewith to rip open the Osmia bee's cocoon and break through
the hard crust of the hillside, betokened a field that was worth
cultivating. The little that I said about her at the time brought me urgent
entreaties: I was asked for a circumstantial chapter on the strange fly.
The stern necessities of life postponed to an ever retreating future my
beloved investigations, so miserably stifled. Thirty years have passed;
at last, a little leisure is at hand; and here, in the harmas of my village,
with an ardor that has in no wise grown old, I have resumed my plans
of yore, still alive like the coal smoldering under the ashes. The
Anthrax has told me her secrets, which I in my turn am going to
divulge. Would that I could address all those who cheered me on this
path, including first and foremost the revered Master of the Landes
[Leon Dufour]. But the ranks have thinned, many have been promoted
to another world and their disciple lagging behind them can but record,
in memory of those who are no more, the story of the insect clad in
deepest mourning.

In the course of July, let us give a few sideward knocks to the bracing
pebbles and detach the nests of the Chalicodoma of the Walls [a mason
bee] from their supports. Loosened by the shock, the dome comes off
cleanly, all in one piece. Moreover--and this is a great advantage--the
cells come into view wide open on the base of the exposed nest, for at
this point they have no other wall than the surface of the pebble. In this
way, without any scraping, which would be wearisome work for the
operator and dangerous to the inhabitants of the dome, we have all the
cells before our eyes, together with their contents, consisting of a silky,
amber-yellow cocoon, as delicate and translucent as an onion peeling.
Let us split the dainty wrapper with the scissors, chamber by chamber,
nest by nest. If fortune be at all propitious, as it always is to the
persevering, we shall end by finding that the cocoons harbor two larvae
together, one more or less faded in appearance, the other fresh and
plump. We shall also find some, no less plentiful, in which the withered
larva is accompanied by a family of little grubs wriggling uneasily
around it.
Examination at once reveals the tragedy that is happening under the
cover of the cocoon. The flacid and faded larva is the mason bee's. A
month ago, in June, having finished its mess of honey, it wove its
silken sheath for a bedchamber wherein to take the long sleep which is
the prelude to the metamorphosis. Bulging with fat, it is a rich and
defenseless morsel for whoever is able to reach it. Then, in spite of
apparently insurmountable obstacles, the mortar wall and the tent
without an opening, the flesh-eating larvae appeared in the secret
retreat and are now glutting themselves on the sleeper. Three different
species take part in the carnage, often in the same nest, in adjoining
cells. The diversity of shapes informs us of the presence of more than
one enemy; the final stage of the creatures will tell us the names and
qualities of the three invaders.
Forestalling the secrets. of the future for the sake of greater clearness, I
will anticipate the actual facts and come at once to the results produced.
When it is by itself on the body of the mason bee's larva, the murderous
grub belongs either to Anthrax trifasciata, MEIGEN, or to Leucospis
gigas, FAB. But, if numerous little worms, often a score and more,
swarm around the victim, then it is a Chalcidid's family which we have
before us. Each of these ravagers shall have its biography. Let us begin

with the Anthrax.
And first the grub, as it is after consuming its victim, when it remains
the sole occupant of the mason bee's cocoon. It is a naked worm,
smooth, legless and blind, of