AFFECTION OF INSECTS FOR THEIR YOUNG. S'i? 



it can refrain from joining in the reflection which it calls 

 from him, " Qidshccc noii mihi miretur et stupeat? Qiiis 

 hiijusmocU opera merce machiiKE possit attrihuere^ ?" 



I myself, when walking with a friend some months 

 ago, observed nearly similar manoeuvres performed by 

 another hymenopterous insect which may be called a 

 spider-wasp {Pompilus), which attracted our attention as 

 it was dragging a spider to its cell. The attitude in which 

 it carried its prey, namely with its feet constantly up- 

 wards ; its singular mode of walking, which was back- 

 wards, except for a foot or two when it went forwards, 

 moving by jerks and making a sort of pause every few 

 steps ; and the astonishing agility with which, notwith- 

 standing its heavy burthen, it glided over or between 

 the gi'ass, weeds, and other numerous impediments in 

 the rough path along which it passed — together formed 

 a spectacle which we contemplated with admiration. The 

 distance which we thus observed it to traverse was not 

 less than twenty-seven feet, and great part of its journey 

 had probably been performed before we saw it. Once 

 or twice, when we first noticed it, it laid down the s[)ider, 

 and making a small circuit returned and took it up again. 

 But for the ensuing twenty or twenty-five feet it never 

 stopped, but proceeded in a direct line for its burrow 

 with the utmost speed. When opposite the hole, which 

 was in a sand bank by the way side, it made a sharp 

 turn, as evidently aware of being in the neighbourhood 

 of its abode, but when advanced a little further laid down 

 its burthen and went to reconnoitre. At first it climbed 

 up the bank, but, as if discovering that this was not the 

 direction, soon returned, and, after another survey per- 

 ' R'M, Hist. Ins. 3o}. 



