162 The Book of Bugs. 



paralyzes a fly by biting it just behind the wings to destroy 

 the nerve knots there. The little Lccliits, when it finds a 

 dermestid grub, hops on crosswise and jabs in its sting 

 just behind the second and third pair of legs. She tweaks 

 the hair and legs of the grub, to see if it is really paralyzed 

 or only 'possuming. Her antennae wiggle with delight 

 as she tugs away. Then she plucks out some hairs and 

 lays her eggs next to the skin, so that they \vill keep 

 warm, and it will not be far for the little ones to go for 

 their meals. Wouldn't it be fine if beef " critters " could 

 be stung in some way so as to keep them alive indefinitely 

 without food or care? 



It is interesting to watch a wasp get her living. When 

 she hears a cicada fiddling away she makes for him, and 

 you can tell the moment he feels the knife,, for his regular 

 note breaks into a wild discordant shriek of : Police ! ' 

 Such a big prize as that the wasp has a hard timie getting 

 home, for she cannot sling it over her shoulder like a bag 

 of flour and trudge along with it. She climbs up into a 

 tree with the limp and unconscious cicada. It sometimes 

 takes her an hour to reach a point from which she can 

 get a good long flight downhill toward home. When her 

 heavy burden drags her to earth again she must climb 

 another tree and repeat the performance all the weary 

 way. 



Somebody for fun clipped off the ends of a wasp's 

 wings as she was sawing away at a bit of steak at the 

 butcher's. When she tried to fly off she found she 

 couldn't manage her parcel. Why," said she, " I must 

 have cut off more than I can carry." So she trimmed a 

 piece off and started again with the diminished load. 

 ' It seems so heavy for me," she mused, ' However, I 

 will make it still smaller, though it will hardly be enough, 

 I fear." When she found that she could not even budge 



