The Hunting Wasps 



Tachytes-grub, who is certainly not more 

 than half the size of the larva of the Sphex. 

 She whose impassiveness, whose care to stop 

 up the burrow would at first have made one 

 take her for the mistress of the house was 

 in reality a mere usurper. How is it that the 

 Sphex, who is larger and more powerful than 

 her adversary, allows herself to be robbed 

 with impunity, confining herself to fruitless 

 pursuits and fleeing like a coward when the 

 interloper, who does not even appear to no- 

 tice her presence, turns round to leave the 

 burrow? Can it be that, in insects as in 

 man, the first chance of success lies in 

 de I'audace, encore de I'audace et toujours 

 de I'audace f The usurper certainly had au- 

 dacity and to spare. I see her still, with 

 imperturbable calmness, moving in and out 

 in front of the complaisant Sphex, who 

 stamps her feet with impatience but does not 

 fall upon the thief. 



I will add that, in other circumstances, I 

 have repeatedly found the same Wasp, 

 whom I presume to be a parasite, in short the 

 Black Tachytes, dragging a Cricket by one 

 of his antennas. Was he a lawfully-acquired 

 prey? I should like to think so; but the 

 vacillating behaviour of the insect, who went 

 74 



