The Empusa 



body juts out stiffly, at full length, with legs 

 folded. It forms a right angle with the 

 supporting axis, so much so that the whole 

 weight of the insect, which has turned itself 

 into the arm of a lever, rests upon the 

 mandibles. 



The Ammophila sleeps extended in space 

 by virtue of its mighty jaws. It takes an 

 animal to think of a thing like that, which 

 upsets all our preconceived ideas of repose. 

 Should the threatening storm burst, should 

 the stalk sway in the wind, the sleeper is not 

 troubled by her swinging hammock; at most, 

 she presses her fore-legs for a moment against 

 the tossed mast. As soon as equilibrium is 

 restored, the favourite posture, that of the 

 horizontal lever, is resumed. Perhaps the 

 mandibles, like the bird's toes, possess the 

 faculty of gripping tighter in proportion to 

 the rocking of the wind. 



The Ammophila is not the only one to 

 sleep in this singular position, which is 

 copied by many others — Anthidia,^ Odyneri,^ 

 Eucerse ^ — and mainly by the males. All 



* Cotton-bees. Cf. Bramble-bees and Others: chap. ix. 

 — Translator's Note. 



^ A genus of Mason-wasps, the essay on whom has not 

 yet been translated into English. — Translator's Note. 



' A species of Burrowing Bees. — Translator's Note. 



203 



