All is eaten; even the portions which I feared contained an excessive proportion of albumen.

Moreover--a matter of still greater importance--the larvae of the Osmia fed in this manner attain their normal growth and spin their cocoons, from which adults issue in the following year.

Despite the albuminous diet the cycle of evolution completes itself without mishap.
What are we to conclude from all this?
I confess I am embarrassed.

_Omne vivum ex ovo_, says the physiologist.

All animals are carnivorous in their first beginnings; they are formed and nourished at the expense of the egg, in which albumen predominates.