The Hunting Wasps 



pen to be torn from the spot whence it derives 

 life; a fall would be the end of it, for, weak 

 as it is and deprived of all means of motion, 

 how could it make its way back to the spot at 

 which it slakes its appetite? The slightest 

 movement would enable the victim to rid 

 itself of the atom gnawing at its entrails; and 

 yet the gigantic prey submits meekly, without 

 the least quiver of protest. I well know that 

 It is paralysed, that it has lost the use of its 

 legs through the sting of its murderess; but 

 still, recent victim that it is, it retains more or 

 less power of movement and sensation in the 

 regions not affected by the dart. The ab- 

 domen throbs, the mandibles open and close, 

 the abdominal filaments wave to and fro, as 

 do the antennae. What would happen if the 

 worm were to bite into one of the still Im- 

 pressionable parts, near the mandibles, or 

 even on the belly, which, being more tender 

 and more succulent, seems as though it ought, 

 after all, to supply the first mouthfuls of the 

 feeble grub? Bitten to the quick, the 

 Cricket, Locust or Ephipplger would at least 

 shiver; and this faint tremor of the skin 

 would be enough to shake off the tiny larva 

 and bring it to the ground, where it would no 

 doubt perish, for it might at any moment find 

 94 



