The Hunting Wasps 



that, even In a Beetle of this size, when twelve 

 hours have passed after death in summer, the 

 internal organs become either dried up or 

 putrefied, so that it is impossible to make sure 

 of their form or structure. There is some 

 special circumstance about the Buprestes 

 killed by the Cerceres that saves them from 

 desiccation and putrefaction for a week and 

 perhaps two. But what is this circum- 

 stance? " 



To explain this wonderful preservation of 

 the tissues which makes of an insect smitten 

 for many weeks past with a corpse-like inert- 

 ness a piece of game which does not even go 

 high and which, during the greatest heat of 

 summer, keeps as fresh as at the moment of 

 its capture, the able historian of the Buprestis- 

 huntress surmises the presence of an antiseptic 

 fluid, acting similarly to the preparations used 

 for preserving anatomical specimens. This 

 fluid, he suggests, can be nothing but the 

 poison of the Wasp, Injected into the victim's 

 body. A tiny drop of the venomous liquid 

 accompanying the sting, the needle destined 

 for the inoculation, would therefore serve as 

 a kind of brine or pickle to preserve the meat 

 on which the larva is to feed. But how Im- 

 H 



