36 THE WONDERS OF INSTINCT 



particle. It is a strategy of war. I am again in the 

 presence of a neck-specialist as expert as the Mantis her- 

 self in the art of swiftly slaying a victim that struggles 

 and, in struggling, spoils the meal. 



Once warned, I soon perceive that the game, be it Fly, 

 Locust, Grasshopper, or Butterfly, is always struck in the 

 neck, from behind. The first bite is aimed at the point 

 containing the cervical ganglia and produces sudden death 

 or immobility. Complete inertia will leave the consumer 

 in peace, the essential condition of every satisfactory re- 

 past. 



The Devilkin, therefore, frail though she be, possesses 

 the secret of immediately destroying the resistance of 

 her prey. She bites at the back of the neck first, in order 

 to give the finishing stroke. She goes on nibbling around 

 the original attacking-point. In this way the Butterfly's 

 head and the upper part of the breast are disposed of. 

 But, by that time, the huntress is surfeited : she wants so 

 little! The rest lies on the ground, disdained, not for 

 lack of flavor, but because there is too much of it. A 

 Cabbage Butterfly far exceeds the capacity of the Em- 

 pusa's stomach. The Ants will benefit by what is left. 



There is one other matter to be mentioned, before 

 observing' the metamorphosis. The position adopted by 

 the young Empusae in the wire-gauze cage is invariably 

 the same from start to finish. Gripping the trellis-work 

 by the claws of its four hind-legs, the insect occupies the 

 top of the dome and hangs motionless, back downwards, 

 with the whole of its body supported by the four suspen- 

 sion-points. If it wishes to move, the front harpoons 



