1 903 Correspondence 2 7 1 



"A solution to the mystery will be found in the work of 'that 

 inimitable observer,' the French naturalist, J. H. Fabre, an admirable 

 translation from whose fascinating writings, under the title of Insect Life, 

 was published not long ago by Messrs. Macmillan. In chapter viii. 

 (p. 102) will be found the result of Fabre's experiments with the larvae 

 of two species of Sphegida?, hatched respectively upon the paralysed 

 body of an cphippiger and similarly helpless carcasses of crickets. 

 Briefly, as the result of surgical investigations with a needle, he found 

 that, whereas the paralysed victim, when probed elsewhere, was 

 sufficiently susceptible to pain, or touch, as to respond with a convulsive 

 movement violent enough to jerk a helpless grub from its cradle, yet in 

 the thorax upon which the egg reposed, and into which the disabling 

 sting had been plunged, no power of sensation was left. Thus, no 

 effect would be produced by the first gnawings of the grub at this spot, 

 nor would any attempt at resistance on the part of the victim be 

 evoked until the attacking larva was both so far embedded in the 

 carcass, and of sufficient strength as to be able to defy any effort to 

 dislodge it. 



"As with the Sphcx under Fabre's observation, so, it is reasonable 

 to suppose, with Mr. Latter's Pompilid. 



" If not already acquainted with the book, Mr. Latter will find not a 

 little of extreme interest upon the subject of Fossorial Hymenoptera, as 

 well as insects of other orders, in Insect Life. He need be no entomol- 

 ogist, however, who would appreciate both the actual work of the great 

 French observer, and his exquisite manner of expressing it in words. 

 No dry-as-dust scientist is he ; and even to those not altogether 

 unlearned in insect lore, some of the results of his intense and patient 

 observations must come as a stunning revelation. 



" Incidentally, it is interesting to note (in connection with Mr. 

 Latter's remark upon the powers of memory displayed by a Pompilid 

 in taking prey to a burrow) that Fabre, though at first inclined, by the 

 astonishing examples he witnessed of what he terms the ' science of 

 instinct,' to an opposite opinion, eventually decides to his own 

 satisfaction (and, we think, to his reader's also) against the possession 

 of reason by insects. At the conclusion of his chapters on ' The Science 

 and Ignorance of Instinct,' he sums up the arguments for and against 

 as follows : — 



" ' Instinct knows everything in the unchanging paths laid out for it ; 

 beyond them it is entirely ignorant. The sublime inspirations of 

 science, the astonishing inconsistencies of stupidity, are both its 

 portion, according as the creature acts under normal conditions, or 

 under accidental ones.' " — A. E. JOHNSON, London. 



The Duty of Field Clubs. — " I am quite sure that in many ways the 

 F. N. Q. is proving itself a real help to members of field clubs, and I 

 am equally certain that almost the best thing it has done for them yet 

 is to open its columns to the ventilation of this question. There is one 

 point which has so far not been touched upon either in your editorial or 



