Then what need is there for the Volucella to disguise herself as a Wasp? Any Fly, whether grey or motley, is admitted to the burrow directly she makes herself useful to the community. The mimicry of the Volucella, which was said to be one of the most conclusive cases, is, after all, a mere childish notion. Patient observation, continually face to face with facts, will have none of it and leaves it to the arm-chair naturalists, who are too prone to look at the animal world through the illusive mists of theory. [[313]]
[1] Cf. The Life of the Fly: chaps. ix., x. and xiv. to xvi.—Translator’s Note. [↑]
INDEX
A
Agenia (see also the varieties below), [84]–90, [222]–223, [229]
Agenia hyalipennis, [84]–85