THE SPHEGIDM. 223 



the victim have ceased, the clever Httle insect seizes its stupefied 

 prey, and drags the heavy burden with great efforts to its nest. 

 Usually the opening of the cavity is so narrow that the cockroach 

 cannot be got in, for its legs and wings stick out and prevent its 

 introduction. But the Chlorioji sets to work and cuts off the legs 

 and the wings, and having thus lessened the difificulty, it strives 

 hard to push the body into the hole, but as this plan usually fails, 

 the Hymenoptera enters first of all, seizes the cockroach with its 

 mandibles, and drags it in with all its force. As the integuments 

 of the Blatta are more or less soft and flexible, the great insect is 

 at last forced into the gallery, where it never could have been 

 expected to have entered. Such proceedings on the part of the 

 Chlorion almost verge upon the domain of reason ; and it is 

 difBcult to explain them by the notion of that very indefinite 

 quality called instinct, for the manoeuvres vary according to cir- 

 cumstances, and there appears to be an intelligent method of 

 overcoming every difficulty. 



The species of the genus Pompilus are fossorial Hymenoptera, 

 which work with the same degree of perfection as the Sphegidce, 

 and which hunt with the same bravery and with the same cunning. 

 Those of this country are very small insects, and make their nests 

 in sand or in old trees, for they seem to know that the rotten wood 

 will relieve them from much trouble in the matter of hole-digging. 

 They all provide spiders for the nourishment of their larvae. Most 

 of them hunt those wandering spiders which scamper about and 

 never make webs, but a few do not hesitate to attack and carry off 

 the great garden spider, even when it is located in the middle of 

 its beautiful web. Some Pompili, which have legs without spines, 

 are incapable of digging, and therefore they act like some of the 

 other insects already mentioned, and which have corresponding 

 structural deficiencies, for they lay their eggs in the nests of other 

 fossorial Hymenoptera, and their larvae act like parasites. 



The CrabronidcB appear at first sight to resemble the Sphegidce, 

 but on examining any of them, it will be observed that the body 

 is only moderately long, their antennae are straight, the upper 

 lip is hardly projecting, their hind legs are not much longer 

 than the others, and the fore legs end in a broad point. They 

 are common insects all over the world, and their shapes vary 



