124 BETIEWS. 



he placed at the enti'auce of their cuemies' abode, in the ho])e of 

 tempting the Cercerides to attack the prey thus brouglit to tlieir 

 very doors, and to perform under his eyes the act of which he had 

 already in many cases mtnessed the marvellous results. But the 

 victims thus offered were scornfully rejected : the inglorious booty 

 treated with disdain. The experiment of putting a Cerceris and a Cur- 

 culio together in a bottle was attended with no better success. Their 

 positions seemedreversed: the Cerceris, too overcome by fear to attempt 

 resistance, tried vainly to escape, while her antagonist fiercely seized 

 one of her legs between its jaws. Thus baffled, M. Fabre was struck 

 with the ingenious idea of waylaying a Cerceris retumuig with her 

 booty, and contriving to substitute for it a living Curculio. This 

 experiment succeeded to admiration. As soon as the Cerceris per- 

 ceived her prey to have slipped from her grasp, she struck the earth 

 with her feet, and turned impatiently hither and thither : then, sud- 

 denly perceiving the living Curculio placed close to her by M. Fabre, 

 pouuced upon it, and proceeded to carry it off. Instantly, how- 

 es'cr, discovering it to be still uninjured, she placed herself face to 

 face with it, seized its rostrum between her powerful mandibles, and 

 pressed her forelegs heavily upon its back, as if to cause the opening 

 of sonie ventral articulation. Quickly then she slid her abdomen 

 beneath the Curculio, and struck her venomous dart sharply twice 

 or thrice into the joint of the prothorax, between the first and second 

 pair of legs. In one second, without a convulsive movement, without 

 those twitches of the limbs which generally accompany the death 

 agony of any animal, the victim dropped motionless, struck as if 

 by lightning. The Cerceris then, turning the apparently lifeless 

 insect on its back, embraced it as before described, and bore it away 

 in triumph. Three times did M. Fabre repeat this interesting expe- 

 riment, each time with precisely similar results. It must be clearly 

 understood, that on each occcasion he restored to the Cerceris her 

 original captive, and took possession of that which he had himself 

 pro\ided, in order to examine it at his leisure. Greatly did he mar- 

 vel at the dexterity with which the fatal stroke had been dealt. Not 

 the slightest trace of a wound was to be found : not the least drop 

 of vital liquid spilt. The puncture made by the sting of the Cerceris 

 is indeed so microscopic, that chemistry can furnish no poison suffi- 

 ciently powerful to produce with so small a quantity so startling an 

 effect : and it is, in fact, not so much to the venom of the dart as to 

 the physiological importance of the exact point at which it entei's, 

 that we must ascribe the cessation, so complete, so instantaneous, of 

 all active life. 



In most insects there are three ganglia, which furnish the nerves 

 of the Anngs and legs, and on which the power of movement jjrinci- 

 pally depends. The first, that of the prothorax, is distinct from the 

 others in aU Coleoptera ; but the two last, those of the meso- and 

 meta- thorax, though generally separate, are in some species united 

 together. Now, it is a well-known fact, that, in most cases, the more 



