The Hunting Wasps 



more a Buprestis, the Double-Hned Buprestis 

 {Sphenoptera geminata) .^ Thus from the 

 west to the east of France, from the depart- 

 ment of the Landes to that of Vaucluse, the 

 Cerceris remains faithful to her favourite 

 prey; longitude makes no difference to her 

 predilections; a huntress of Buprestes among 

 the maritime pines of the sand-dunes along 

 the coast remains a huntress of Buprestes 

 among the olive-trees and evergreen oaks of 

 Provence. She changes the species according 

 to place, climate and vegetation, which alter 

 the nature of the insect population so greatly; 

 but she never departs from her favoured 

 genus, the genus Buprestis. What can her 

 reason be ? That is what I shall try to show. 



^The Beetle known to Fabre as Sphenoptera geminata, 

 Uliger, is now considered identical with 5. lineola, 

 Herbst, which was known many years earlier. — Trans- 

 lator's Note. 



