The Hunting Wasps 



Emile Blanchard's fine work on the nervous 

 system of the Coleoptera.^ I see there that 

 this centraHzation of the nervous system is 

 the prerogative, in the first place, of the 

 Scarabaeidae, or Chafers; but most of these 

 are too large: the Cerceris could perhaps 

 neither attack them nor carry them away; be- 

 sides, many of them live in the midst of 

 ordure where the Wasp, herself so cleanly, 

 would refuse to go in search of them. 

 Motor centres very close together are found 

 also in the Histers, who live on carrion and 

 dung, in an atmosphere of loathsome smells, 

 and who must therefore be eliminated; in the 

 Scolyti, who are too small; and lastly in the 

 Buprestes and the Weevils. 



What an unexpected light amid the original 

 darkness of the problem ! Among the im- 

 mense number of Beetles whereon the 

 Cerceres might seem able to prey, only two 

 groups, the Weevils and the Buprestes, fulfil 

 the indispensable conditions. They live far 

 removed from stench and filth, two qualities 

 perhaps invincibly repugnant to the dainty 

 huntress; their numerous representatives vary 

 considerably in size, in much the same way as 



^/Jnnales des sciences naturelles, Series III., vol. v. — 

 duthor's Note. 



52 



