The Anthrax 



dent can he ever attack that which it is in- 

 cumbent upon him to respect lest corruption 

 supervene. The others have a fixed position 

 on the victim, a place at which their mandibles 

 have to bite and enter. If they move away 

 from it, if they miss the appointed path, they 

 imperil their existence. The Anthrax, more 

 highly favoured, puts his mouth where it suits 

 him ; he leaves off when he pleases and when 

 he pleases starts again. 



Unless I labour under a delusion, I think 

 that I see the necessity for this privilege. The 

 egg of the carnivorous burrower is firmly fixed 

 on the victim at a point which varies consider- 

 ably, it is true, according to the nature of the 

 prey, but which is uniform for the same species 

 of prey; moreover — and this is an important 

 condition — the point of adhesion of that egg 

 is always the head, whereas the egg of a Bee, 

 of the Osmia, for instance, is fixed to the mess 

 of honey by the hinder-end. When hatched, 

 the new-born Wasp-grub has not to choose for 

 itself, at its risk and peril, the suitable point 

 at which to take the first cut in the quarry 

 without fear of killing it too quickly: all that 

 it need do is to bite at the spot where it has 

 just been born. The mother, with her unfail- 

 ing instinct, has already made the dangerous 



47 



