VII THREE STROKES OF A DAGGER 95 



mandibles of the cricket to seize, and one beholds, 

 not without emotion, the poisoned lancet plunge 

 once into the victim's neck, next into the jointing 

 of the two front segments of the thorax, and then 

 again towards the abdomen. In less time than it 

 takes to tell, the murder is committed, and the 

 Sphex, after setting her disordered toilette to rights, 

 prepares to carry off her victim, its limbs still 

 quivering in the death - throes. Let us reflect a 

 moment on the admirable tactics of which I have 

 given a faint sketch. The Cerceris attacks a passive 

 adversary, incapable of flight, whose sole chance of 

 safety is found in a solid cuirass whose weak points 

 the murderers know. But here what a difference ! 

 The prey is armed with redoubtable mandibles, 

 capable of disembowelling the aggressor if they can 

 seize her, and a pair of strong feet, actual clubs, 

 furnished with a double row of sharp spines, which 

 can be used alternatively to enable the cricket to 

 bound far away from an enemy or to overturn one 

 by brutal kicks. Accordingly, note what precautions 

 on the part of the Sphex before using her dart. 

 The victim, lying on its back, cannot escape by 

 using its hind levers, for want of anything to spring 

 from, as of course it would were it attacked in its 

 normal position, as are the big Weevils by Cerceris 

 tuberculata. Its spiny legs, mastered by the fore- 

 feet of the Sphex, cannot be used as offensive 

 weapons, and its mandibles, held at a distance by the 

 hind-feet of the Hymenopteron, open threateningly 

 but can seize nothing. But it is not enough for the 

 Sphex to render it impossible for her victim to hurt 

 her : she must hold it so firmly garrotted that no 



