CHAPTER III 



A SCIENTIFIC SLAUGHTERER 



^ I ''HE Wasp has told us part of her secret 

 -*■ by showing us the spot which her sting 

 touches. Does this solve the question? 

 Not yet, nor by a long way. Let us go back 

 for a moment, forget what the insect has just 

 taught us and, in our turn, set ourselves the 

 problem of the Cerceris. The problem is 

 this: to store underground, in a cell, a big 

 enough pile of game to feed the larva which 

 will be hatched from the egg laid on the heap. 

 At first sight, this victualling seems simple 

 enough; but a little reflection shows that It is 

 attended by very grave difficulties. Our own 

 game, for instance, is brought down by a shot 

 from a gun ; it is killed with horrible wounds. 

 The Wasp has refinements of taste unknown 

 to us: she must have the prey intact, with all 

 its elegance of form and colouring, no broken 

 limbs, no gaping wounds, no hideous disem- 

 bowelling. Her victim has all the freshness 

 of the live insect; It retains, without the loss 

 of a single speck, that fine tinted bloom which 

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